Loyalty and rewards

Krispy Kreme's new payment and loyalty app is betting big on customers' appetite for donating to charity.

Lovers of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and coffee now have a mobile app to pay for their purchases and receive rewards.

Dunkin' Donuts, in a bid to catch up to the technology prowess of Starbucks Corp., is testing on-the-go ordering and delivery service in some U.S. markets.

Most mobile wallets clearly favor one industry over another, with banks and retailers often pitted against each other in a battle over payment card fees. JPMorgan Chase just made a stunning move by conceding some of this ground to the benefit of the Merchant Customer Exchange.

When Cumberland Farms said this month that it had processed $1 billion worth of gas via its decoupled debit card over the course of nearly three years, it was the latest example of the power of the decoupled debit card. And yet, other than Target's RED card, decoupled debit has barely moved beyond the convenience and petroleum segment.

The mobile technology craze is starting to sweep up loyalty programs, placing pressure on banks to brush up the reward redemption experience to meet consumer expectations.

Loyalty programs have often been considered a key motivator to shift consumers to mobile payments and away from cash and cards. But few companies have actually blended mobile with loyalty in a compelling way.

American Express is introducing one of the payments industry's first prepaid debit cards with cashback rewards in an age where the best rewards are typically reserved for the more lucrative credit card market.

The NASA Federal Credit Union will mix science non-fiction and fiction, providing Star Trek themed credit cards on request to its members.

Target is deploying Bluetooth beacons to offer time-sensitive deals and product recommendations to shoppers in its stores, and it has more ambitious plans for the technology later in the year.

American Express and Best Buy will allow consumers to make purchases on the retailer’s website using the reward points earned from their Amex spending.

Starbucks and American Express are both using cross-merchant rewards to boost their own volume, but with a very different philosophy driving each company's program.

Loyalty programs are typically viewed as a consumer-facing marketing play, but the shift to mobile commerce is bringing these programs deeper into the supply chain.

The credit union-led CU Wallet is working to attract small-business support by drawing on the local ethos that credit unions have nurtured for years, but it faces a formidable challenge as device makers such as Apple and Samsung bake their own wallets into the hardware.

Over the past few years, card-linked offers (CLO) have emerged as the next "it” digital advertising channel and is angling to underpin daily-deals platforms that haven’t delivered the long-term customer engagement once promised.

American Express' recovery from losing its partnership with Costco got a boost as it reached an agreement with Starwood Hotels to introduce a new payment card.

Starbucks has integrated its app with technology from corporate spending management company Concur, demonstrating the vast new uses of the coffee chain's mobile commerce offering.

When it comes to free loyalty programs, financial institutions are suffering from revenue model challenges and low uptake, though it's a problem that can be fixed.

As Starbucks has proven for years, few retail interactions are more tailor-made for mobile payment than coffee sales. But when U.K.-based grocery chain Marks & Spencer launched its own coffee loyalty app in a 58-store trial in London, it chose to keep its menu much simpler.

The Starbucks gift card is the foundation the coffee chain's mobile and rewards strategy, and for good reason. In 2013, one in eight Americans received a Starbucks gift card as a holiday gift. In 2014, it was one in seven.