Every Monday, the editors at The Wise Marketer curate a list of the latest customer loyalty and marketing news to make it simple for busy professionals to quickly digest important, trending topics. Additionally, we cover the retail, travel, hospitality, payments, and data privacy sectors. Show your support by joining our mailing list to gain access to exclusive content, events, and promotions. Don't forget to follow us on social media!
- Newsweek partnered with research firm Statista to compile a list of America's Best Loyalty Programs 2021
- PLAYSTUDIOS' adds City Winery to its playAWARDS portfolio, joining over 275 additional brands
- In partnership with twid, PayU recently announced the launch of the Pay with Rewards initiative, India's largest online aggregation of loyalty programs
- Celebrity Cruises updated its Captain's Club loyalty program as it prepares for cruises to resume
- Warby Parker plans to add 35 new brick-and-mortar stores in 2021, adding to its existing 140 store locations
- South Korean retailers Lotte Shopping and Shinsegae Group entered separate bids for ebay Korea
- Attica Group selected HID Global to optimize its Seasmiles loyalty program kiosks, making handwritten applications a thing of the past
- Ackroo completed its first U.S.-based acquisition with purchase of InterActive DMS
- U.S. Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, speaks up to show her support for a law that would ban companies from paying ransomware demands
- The heads of major airlines urge the US and UK to allow travel to resume ahead of the G7 meeting, declaring it would be "essential to igniting economic recovery"
LOYALTY PROGRAM NEWS:
America's Best Loyalty Programs 2021
Highlight: The 2021 ranking of America's Best Loyalty Programs was compiled based on the results of an independent survey of more than 4,000 U.S. customers who are members of loyalty programs of retailers or service providers in the United States. Customers were given the opportunity to evaluate various loyalty programs: in total, around 16,000 evaluations were collected. The survey period ran from October to November 2020.
PLAYSTUDIOS’ loyalty marketing program, added City Winery
Highlight: PLAYSTUDIOS’ loyalty marketing program, playAWARDS, has added City Winery to its growing portfolio of loyalty rewards providers. The new partnership with this innovative live music, dining, and wine brand allows players of free-to-play PLAYSTUDIOS games – myVEGAS Bingo, myVEGAS Slots, my KONAMI Slots, POP! Slots, and myVEGAS Blackjack – to exchange loyalty points they accumulate in-game for real-world rewards. PLAYSTUDIOS recently entered into a merger agreement with Acies Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: ACAC, ACACU, ACACW) (“Acies”) which, upon closing, will result in the Company becoming a Nasdaq listed company under the ticker symbol “MYPS.”
PayU launches India’s largest online aggregation of loyalty programs
Highlight: Leading digital payments solutions provider PayU has announced the launch of ‘Pay with Rewards’ initiative, India’s largest online aggregation of loyalty programs across brands, in partnership with twid, India’s first reward points-based payment network. By aggregating loyalty points and alternate currencies of multiple brands on a single platform, consumers can pay for up to 100% of their purchases through rewards and loyalty points. Consumers can use Flipkart SuperCoins, OlaMoney, TimesPoints, banks on NPCI’s nth Rewards platform, airline miles, bank reward points, and others, across different merchants, at checkout to settle their full bill amount.
Celebrity Cruises announces changes to Captain's Club customer loyalty program
Highlight: Celebrity Cruises has announced changes to its customer loyalty program for guests when cruises restart. Celebrity says they have taken the time during the cruise industry shutdown to make "refinements" to the Captain's Club program. New events will be held onboard, such as the Captain’s Club Sneak Peek Series beginning on Celebrity Apex. "Classic members and above can enjoy a sneak peek of the Eden décor, live music, and interactive art at Wonder at Eden in a reserved space just for Captain’s Club members. Plus, you can sample the specialty cocktail of the evening and enjoy a meet and greet with the artists and performers."
RETAIL NEWS:
Warby Parker sets its sights on more in-person retail
Highlight: New York-based glasses and contacts retailer Warby Parker made a splash with its ecommerce model when it launched in 2010. Now, the startup — valued in August at $3B — is expanding a brick-and-mortar path. It’s adding 35 new stores in 2021 on top of its existing 140. Why in-person and why now?
S.Korean Retail Firms Lotte and Shinsegae Bid for EBay Korea
Highlight: South Korean retailers Lotte Shopping and Shinsegae Group entered separate binding bids for eBay's South Korean business, the retailers' spokesmen said on Monday. eBay Korea - South Korea's third-largest e-commerce firm with a 12.8% market share in 2020, according to Euromonitor - is on sale for what eBay hopes could be up to 5 trillion won ($4.5 billion), analysts said... Local retail giants Lotte and Shinsegae have struggled to catch up to leading competitors like South Korea's No. 1 e-commerce firm Coupang in the fast-growing online shopping sector, especially after the onset of COVID-19.
PAYMENTS NEWS:
HID Global Launches Card Personalization Solution to Streamline Mediterranean Passenger Line Rewards Program
Highlight: HID Global, a worldwide leader in trusted identity solutions, today announced that maritime company Attica Group has selected its HID® FARGO® DTC4500e High Capacity Card Printer & Encoder to optimize its loyalty program kiosks. Attica Group is engaged in passenger shipping through SUPERFAST FERRIES, BLUE STAR FERRIES, HELLENIC SEAWAYS and AFRICA MOROCCO LINK. Its Seasmiles loyalty program offers an all-year discount ticket policy, a 3-tier card system and an “earn and burn” model which rewards an array of ticket purchases and transactions onboard in exchange for free tickets or meals and drinks when traveling. Previously, passengers had to submit handwritten applications that did not protect any personal data and had to wait more than six weeks to receive their cards. Members can now sign up at once and immediately receive the loyalty card to start enjoying the benefits on-board.
Ackroo completes acquisition of InterActive DMS
Highlight: IDMS provides cloud-based and on-premise dealer management software and web solutions to independent car, motorcycle and boat dealers across the United States. Under the terms of the acquisition, Ackroo acquired all customer contracts and related IP adding over 150 clients to their AckrooPOS business. In consideration for the acquisition, the Company has paid $600,000 on closing and will make a final $300,000 payment less pre-paid adjustments on or before August 31, 2021.
DATA & PRIVACY NEWS:
Energy secretary backs ban on ransomware payments: 'You are encouraging the bad actors'
Highlight: Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Sunday that she supports a law that would ban companies from paying ransom to hackers holding their information hostage after a recent spate of cyberattacks on companies responsible for crucial parts of the U.S. infrastructure. "Everyone needs to wake up and up their game in terms of protecting themselves, but also in terms of telling the federal government if they are a target of attacks. Many of these private companies don't want to let people know. They should not be paying ransomware, but they should be letting us know so we can protect the rest of the country," she said.
TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY NEWS:
Airline bosses demand UK-US travel corridor
Highlight: Under a presidential decree introduced last March, non-US citizens who have been in the UK in the last 14 days cannot enter the country unless a specific exemption applies. Meanwhile, travelers from the US to the UK must self-isolate for 10 days on arrival as the country is on the "amber list". Shai Weiss, the boss of Virgin Atlantic, said: "There is no reason for the US to be absent from the UK green list. This overly cautious approach fails to reap the benefits of the successful vaccination programmes in both the UK and the US." Adding the US to the green list would remove the need for quarantine on return to the UK. Passengers would, however, still need to have proof of a negative Covid test result on departure.
Read last week's newswire: Loyalty Newswire – May 31st, 2021
The Loyalty Newswire is compiled and edited by the staff at The Wise Marketer.
