Loyalty and rewards

Park Bank of Madison, Wis., is offering Buzz Points to provide consumers with bonus rewards for shopping at local merchants.

Merchants are leveraging their digital gift card platforms for quick digital promotions.

A new malware botnet is using thousands of compromised computers to launch attacks on point-of-sale systems with the intent to steal card data, says a warning from security company FireEye.

MasterCard Inc. has completed its acquisition of Pinpoint Pty. Ltd., an Australia-based loyalty and rewards service provider.

In SaveUp's first foray into the payments industry, the financial management provider is linking its reward program to PayPal's prepaid MasterCard to attract younger consumers.

Loyalty programs can be a challenge because in Brazil's anti-coupon culture. Pizza Hut is overcoming this hurdle with a combined loyalty and prepaid card.

Starbucks may soon make the tools behind its successful m-commerce strategy available to other retailers.

Facebook knows that if it misuses consumer data, it will scare its users off. But the social network also knows that by keeping consumers aware of what it is doing and giving them a chance to opt out, it can fundamentally change the way advertisers such as card issuers do business.

Most financial institutions and issuers of debit and credit cards, as well as merchant branded private label payment schemes, miss three key areas of due diligence in their return on investment (ROI) analysis of card-linked offers (CLO) programs: Incremental merchant results (Performance), Consumer offer targeting (Relevancy) and Merchant offers (Content).

Discover's not worried about the increase of alternative payment companies offering hefty rewards in an attempt to cut into interchange revenue, Chairman and CEO David Nelms told investors on April 22.

Travel agency Orbitz.com has added a Visa rewards card to its loyalty program for customers using the online airlines booking service.

MasterCard has entered an agreement to buy Pinpoint Pty. Ltd., a Sydney, Australia-based provider of loyalty and rewards services in the Asia Pacific region.

The "buy local" Buzz Points loyalty program is adding mobile marketing technology to increase payments volume for non-chain merchants.

In the technology market, making the jump from early adoption to the mainstream is the difference between becoming the next iPad and becoming the next Laserdisc. Mobile wallets find themselves in this very position today as a next-gen product in need of a push to reach their tipping point.

Elavon's clients now have the option to add a customer loyalty program directly into their payment transaction systems, enabling shoppers to redeem rewards any time they make a payment.

Even though there are more mobile devices than people, many retailers continue to scratch their heads as to why there’s so much less enthusiasm behind mobile payments than overall mobile adoption.

Walgreen Co. plans to expand the payments features of its combined loyalty and prepaid MasterCard, Balance Financial, with the goal of making it the preferred financial product of its underbanked customers.

Linking loyalty to payment cards, especially through cobranded products, is a relatively new practice that retailers say helps them target offers to their best customers.

Of all the potential benefits, mobile-driven loyalty is the factor with the greatest potential to drive consumer adoption of mobile payments.

Alliance Data Systems Corp. replaced Barclaycard US as the issuer of Virgin America's affinity credit card this week, launching two products that are co-branded with the airline's Elevate frequent flier program through its Alliance Data Retail Services and Comenity Capital Bank divisions.