Loyalty and rewards

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.

Consumers demand far more flexibility from their card reward programs — and some banks are getting creative about delivering it.

Guardian Credit Union plans to offer its members the Buzz Points merchant-funded debit loyalty program, which emphasizes social media interaction.

For Cyriac Roeding, CEO and co-founder of shopkick, the marriage of virtual and physical shopping has never as close as it is now.

Google Wallet has undergone several major revisions since it launched and while the issues solved with its latest iteration were among its biggest hurdles, it's still too soon to declare a winner in the mobile wallet race.

Citigroup Inc. is expanding its ThankYou Rewards program by providing customers with virtual account numbers linked to their Citi credit cards and rewards accounts to redeem points at online merchants.

While nearly two thirds, or 61%, of U.S. online consumers have heard of a digital wallet, only 11% actually use one, an indicator that wallet providers still face challenges reaching consumers, according to Forrester Research.

The Amazon Coins digital currency is now available for consumers in the U.K. and Germany to buy mobile applications and make in-app purchases on the Kindle Fire tablet and on Amazon.com Inc.'s regional app stores.