Happy Monday, and welcome back to the Wise Marketer! That is, if you've been here before! Each week, our team of editors curate a list of the latest customer loyalty, marketing, and other relevant news. Our goal is to make it simple for busy professionals to quickly digest important news and trending topics. Show your support by joining our mailing list to gain access to exclusive content, events, and promotions. Or you could just follow us on social media!
- Loylogic's new Pointspay shopping portal creates a wallet-like experience for loyalty points
- As gas prices continue to rise, American Power & Gas launches new loyalty rewards program
- adidas launches Choose to Give Back resale program as part of its mission to end plastic waste
- SWIRL raises $250K from global investors to enhance its live video commerce platform
- With new Google partnership, Bakkt users can add their virtual debit card to Google Pay
- EBA Clearing, SWIFT and The Clearing House (TCH) have collaborated on a new initiative to speed up cross-border money transfers
- Chinese life services app Meituan faces additional privacy complaints after recent $534M fine for antitrust violations
- Marriott International's partnership with Rakuten Group will enhance the travel experience for Japanese customers
LOYALTY PROGRAM NEWS
Pointspay Launches New Shopping Platform That Helps Loyalty Program Members To Afford More by Using Points at Checkout
Highlight: With the launch of the new Pointspay shopping portal, Loylogic has simplified the registration and login experience and made using Pointspay more wallet-like. This makes it easier for members to connect multiple loyalty program accounts with their Pointspay account. In a single view, members can also see their balance across programs, as well as view points redemption and accrual opportunities with participating merchants. And, by bringing programs and merchants together in one platform, members can use Pointspay to choose what points to spend – or earn – and where to spend them. For program members that already earn points with a program credit card, paying with Pointspay allows them to ‘double dip’ and earn points on cash transactions via both the card and Pointspay merchant.
American Power & Gas Launches Loyalty Rewards Program to Help Customers Save Money in Trying Times
Highlight: Accompanied by an ongoing awareness of their customers' needs, American Power & Gas (APG) has stepped up its continued efforts to supply green energy with perks. Designed to make life easier, the new APG Loyalty Rewards program offers discount coupons to restaurants, movie theaters, golf courses, ski resorts, family attractions, travel, shopping, and more… “Since our inception, our focus has been to give rewards to our customers who believe green energy is essential for sustainability. So, every year they're with us, they receive a 25% rebate check on their average month's electricity and gas supply charges. It's our way of saying thank you.” - Jim Bridgeforth, President.
RETAIL NEWS
adidas Launches 'Choose to Give Back', a Resale Program Enabled by thredUP
Highlight: Today, in a continuation of its ongoing mission to help End Plastic Waste, adidas has introduced its Choose to Give Back program aimed at helping to extend the lifecycle of sports performance & lifestyle apparel and footwear. Leveraging thredUP's (NASDAQ: TDUP) Resale-as-a-Service® (RaaS®) platform and expertise, the program will invite consumers to send used product from any brand back to adidas via the adidas Creator's Club app to be reused or resold… "We believe that great performance shouldn't come at the cost of the environment. That's why we're committed to establishing a circular future for sportswear, and with the Choose to Give Back program are helping people to see new possibilities to give old gear new life," explains Katja Schreiber, adidas SVP of Sustainability.
Global Investors Tune Into SWIRL as Live Video in Ecommerce Takes Off
Highlight: SWIRL aims to empower brands globally with experiential technology to engage more customers, shorten their purchase journey and accelerate online sales. SWIRL is on a mission to make ecommerce more engaging and human by bringing the in-store shopping experience online. Their cloud based interactive and live video commerce SaaS platform helps both D2C brands and Retail enterprises to directly engage, convert and retain more customers using real-time virtual shopping that can also be whitelabelled and integrated with any existing eCommerce platform such as Shopify, Wix, WordPress, Magento, etc… “Just like how WhatsApp displaced SMS for many people, video ecommerce is going to become the new gold standard and make the static image-based online shopping experience a thing of the past” added Bheshaj Joshi, Co-Founder & COO of SWIRL.
PAYMENTS NEWS
Bakkt Partners with Google to Introduce Digital Assets to Millions of Consumers
Highlight: Bakkt (“Bakkt”), a trusted digital asset marketplace that enables consumers to buy, sell, send and spend digital assets, today announced a partnership with Google to extend the reach and usability of digital assets to meet rapidly evolving consumer demand and preferences. Bakkt users will be able to add their virtual Bakkt® Visa® Debit Card (“Bakkt Card”) into Google Pay to purchase everyday goods and services online, in-store, or wherever Google Pay is accepted. Digital assets such as bitcoin will be converted to fiat currency for these payments to occur… “This partnership is a testament to Bakkt’s strong position in the digital asset marketplace, to empower consumers to enjoy their digital assets in a real-time, secure, reliable manner,” said Gavin Michael, Bakkt CEO. “Additionally, partnering with Google Cloud will enable us to continue to build a best-in-class, innovative platform that can undoubtedly scale to meet the needs of millions of users.”
EBA, SWIFT, TCH, Collaborate To Make Cross-Border Payments Faster
Highlight: EBA CLEARING, SWIFT and The Clearing House (TCH) are collaborating on a new initiative, Immediate Cross-Border Payments (IXB), to speed up cross-border money transfers and make the process easier. IXB has the support of 11 banks that contributed to the design, with seven participating in a proof of concept that demonstrated the successful exchange of payments and receipt messages. The proof of concept showed that IXB could “synchronize settlement in one instant payment system with settlement in the other and convert real-time messages between both systems,” according to a press release emailed to PYMNTS on Monday (Oct. 11)… “By leveraging the RTP network in the United States and RT1 in Europe, along with ISO 200022 message formats, IXB demonstrates that a faster cross-border payments capability is possible and can be delivered using existing technology,” said Russ Waterhouse, executive vice president for product development and strategy at The Clearing House.
DATA & PRIVACY NEWS
Meituan faces data privacy controversies after antitrust fine
Highlight: Chinese life services app Meituan has come under fire for data privacy issues ranging from intensive location tracking to account safety loopholes... A Chinese gadget review vlogger named Xuanningxuan Sir criticized the app for tracking his location even when he’s not using it. The Meituan app was reportedly tracking the vlogger’s location every five minutes around the clock on Oct. 8, according to a two-minute screen-shot video he shared in a Weibo post on Sunday. “This is creepy. What on earth do they want to do?” he asked in the post. Xuanningxuan’s concerns are shared by many. On microblogging platform Weibo, the hashtag “Meituan app tracks user location all day around” had attracted 100 million views as of Monday morning.
TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY NEWS
Marriott (MAR) Announces Strategic Partnership With Rakuten
Highlight: Marriott International, Inc. MAR recently announced a strategic collaboration with Rakuten Group, Inc., to boost travel experience for Japanese customers. Following the announcement, shares of the company moved up 1.6% during trading hours on Oct 7. Backed by high optimism for travel recovery, the alliance focuses on delivering an integrated travel experience through leveraging the strength of Rakuten's digital expertise alongside the global scale as well as the rapid growth of the Marriott Bonvoy footprint. This will benefit members from both Marriott Bonvoy and the Rakuten loyalty program… Rajeev Menon, president, Asia Pacific excluding Greater China, Marriott International, stated, “With a significant number of Japan's population a Rakuten member, we anticipate this collaboration will allow us to strategically capture a greater share of a strong Japanese travel market and connect these travelers to our expansive portfolio of global brands. We're delighted to be working with Rakuten to advance the recovery of travel.”
Did you miss last week's newswire? Stay informed: Loyalty Newswire – October 4th, 2021
The Loyalty Newswire is compiled and edited by the staff at The Wise Marketer.
