Loyalty and rewards

Rewards are considered a key driver to get consumers to adopt mobile payments, and Walgreens has tied its loyalty program to Android Pay.

At most merchants, mobile wallets have been a solution in search of a problem. But at the pharmacy, every customer already has a problem — possibly several problems — they want to address before they even think about how they want to pay.

Two years after eschewing Apple Pay and NFC, CVS is integrating payments, marketing and prescription ordering in a single bar code-enabled mobile app, replacing a customer experience that currently relies heavily on time-consuming interactions with staff.

The loyalty key fobs that reside alongside car and house keys on a chain is rarely discussed in the plastic card market, but has nonetheless undergone a revolution in recent years. Certainly in the U.K., their popularity has soared.

At its launch in 2004, ThankYou had its own separate identity, customer base and website from the rest of Citi – even logging into the program was difficult.

The hit smartphone game Pokemon Go is not a mobile wallet or a loyalty app, but it is arguably far more successful at driving traffic to retailers' stores than many of the apps designed for that purpose.

Subway is reimagining how ordering, payments and marketing tie together at its sandwich shops. It's in the process of launching a new division called Subway Digital, which will pool the expertise of specialists in technology, marketing and operations rather than give full rein to any one of those disciplines.

Since the introduction of Bluetooth beacons as enablers of in-store location-based marketing, many have seen a clear connection between beacons and mobile payments. As the technology evolves, the connection is not quite as clear.

Most mobile wallet providers and retailers have been hunting for the magic formula that would seamlessly blend loyalty and mobile payments, in the hopes that one would inevitably fuel the other. But it's a delicate recipe, and very easy to get wrong.

Verifone and its beacon technology provider Footmarks are partnering with Allrecipes.com and grocery retailer Marc’s in Ohio to deliver meal recommendations to shoppers.

As the Costco-Citibank credit card partnership hits full stride this month following the retailer’s painful split with longtime credit card partner American Express, Bank of America is making a change to its own credit card rewards program to win the business of warehouse club shoppers.

E-commerce is eroding the appeal of shopping malls, so the operators of some of the largest shopping centers are starting to dish out their own share of digital disruption.

While the benefits of coupon 'extreme stacking' are traditionally geared to consumers, it can also help retailers understand consumer behavior and better plan their marketing initiatives.

Google is helping developers cut steps out of the path to accepting digital payments with several key moves unveiled around the Google I/O developers conference taking place this week.

Citigroup is testing Bluetooth beacon technology in a pilot that gives customers cardless access to branch ATMs after business hours, among other services.

Department store chain Kohl’s has stitched together two of the most frustrating elements of checking out: adding loyalty points at the same time the payment goes through.

Pressure is building on financial services providers to develop more merchant-centric loyalty programs to fight declining interchange revenue, and U.S. Bank is testing one approach in Lawrence, Kan.

Capital One's rewards and marketing may cause some short-term performance issues, but the institution's aggressive posture is necessary in the current environment, the company's CEO said.

As banks weigh blockchain-powered clearing and settlement solutions, the Royal Bank of Canada is looking at how the technology can bolster its customer loyalty schemes.

Starbucks Corp. fell the most in more than two months after Deutsche Bank AG downgraded the stock, saying that changes to the company’s loyalty program may hurt customer traffic.