Loyalty Newswire – March 29th, 2021

WM Circle Logo

By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on March 29, 2021

Stay up to date with essential news and trending topics in the customer loyalty marketing industry. If you enjoy our content and want to show your support, subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive content, events and more! Don't forget to follow us on social media!

  • T-Mobile extends loyalty program to Metro by T-Mobile customers including prepaid plans
  • AirAsia Group plans to swap stock to obtain full ownership over its loyalty program, BigLife
  • Ackroo announces its integration with Shopify as well as advancements to its AKR3 marketing platform
  • Eagle Eye and Neptune Retail Solutions have partnered to build an omnichannel solution for Southeastern Grocers
  • Pot dispensaries attempt non-traditional strategies to reinvent the retail experience
  • Krispy Kreme reveals new free donut and coffee offer on Mondays regardless if you've had a COVID vaccination
  • AEVI expands partnership with Mastercard Payment Gateway Services to combine their technologies with the goal of simplifying the omnichannel shopping experience
  • New integrations from Shift4 Payments enable customers to seamlessly add new features directly into their POS system
  • The Spanish Data Protection Authority has filed its largest fine in history against Vodafone España
  • With online privacy protection a major concern, the U.S. moves closer to passing a federal data privacy law
  • Do hospitality wellness programs keep travelers safe or are they simply used as a marketing ploy?

LOYALTY PROGRAM NEWS:

T-Mobile extends customer loyalty program to prepaid service

Quotable: “Today, T-Mobile announced it is bringing T-Mobile Tuesdays — and the almost $1,000 of extra value it delivers every year — to all Metro by T-Mobile customers. Starting now, and every week, millions of Metro by T-Mobile customers can get thanked with free stuff and exclusive offers from some of today's most popular brands, like Pandora, Dunkin', Popeyes, Shell, Redbox, Booking.com and more, just for being a part of the T-Mobile family. And the Un-carrier is the first and only wireless company to recognize and thank customers every week across postpaid AND prepaid brands!”

AirAsia to swap stock for full ownership of loyalty programme

Quotable: “Malaysia’s AirAsia Group and Aimia Holdings UK II have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a $25 million stock-swap deal, for the latter’s 20% equity interest in the airline group’s loyalty program. The parties inked a share sale and purchase agreement for Aimia to sell 1.67 million ordinary shares in BigLife to AirAsia Group for a $25 million consideration. This will be satisfied by 85.9 million new ordinary shares in AirAsia Group, issued at MYR1.20 ($0.29) each, the company said in a 22 March Bursa Malaysia disclosure.”

LOYALTY TECHNOLOGY NEWS:

Ackroo adds Shopify integration and more digital marketing features to its AKR3 marketing platform

Quotable: “The Company is focused on enhancing its platform in e-commerce and digital marketing to further empower its customer base. Specifically, the Company has completed an integration to Shopify which enables Ackroo merchants to redeem their gift cards through Shopify’s online store. The Company has also continued to advance its marketing platform with digital marketing insights, dashboards and reports in order to allow merchants to clearly see the success and progress of any digital campaign they run through the Ackroo platform.”

RETAIL NEWS:

Eagle Eye and Neptune Retail Solutions Enable a Better Digital Coupon Experience for Southeastern Grocers’ Shoppers

Quotable: “Neptune Retail Solutions is an industry-leading omni-solutions retail platform that leverages its first, second and third-party sales data to identify and target relevant offers and promotions to a brand’s most profitable shoppers. In partnership with Southeastern Grocers, those offers will be further personalized through Eagle Eye. The process will yield more than 200 million combined digital offers, coupons, and recommendation variations each month when fully integrated.”

Pot Dispensaries Are Getting Retail Makeovers: Cannabis Weekly

Quotable: “Cannabis companies are joining their mainstream consumer-product peers in trying to reinvent the shopping experience. For Jushi Holdings Inc., that means art exhibits at its Beyond/Hello stores, sage-and-citrus-scented candles and a desert theme to help customers feel like they’re not just in a staid dispensary. Under the direction of Andreas Neumann, a former rock photographer who is now the company’s chief creative officer, Jushi has also relaunched its website to give shoppers a more “frictionless experience.”

Krispy Kreme vaccine giveaway: Free donut and coffee offer on Mondays – no COVID vaccination required

Quotable: “Whether or not you’ve had the COVID-19 vaccine, Krispy Kreme has a freebie for everyone on Mondays through May 24. Unlike the chain's free doughnuts for the rest of 2021 giveaway that requires showing a valid COVID-19 vaccination card, everybody is eligible to take part in Krispy Kreme's ongoing Monday promotion for a free medium coffee and a free Original Glazed doughnut. No purchase is necessary.”

PAYMENTS NEWS:

AEVI and Mastercard Partner to Simplify Omnichannel Shopping Experience

Quotable: “AEVI and Mastercard Payment Gateway Services (MPGS) announced an expanded partnership today to use their combined technologies and reach to simplify the omnichannel shopping experience. AEVI integrates payments and data across all customer channels by providing an open platform that is both device and solution independent. This platform, combined with MPGS' encompassing digital gateway services, provides merchants another choice that brings payments straight to where the customer is - across multiple touchpoints in-store and online.”

Shift4 Payments Adds Six New Integration Partners to Marketplace

Quotable: “These integrations enable Shift4 customers to seamlessly add new features and capabilities directly into their point-of-sale (POS) system, enhancing the company’s value proposition by delivering a central hub for all business management tools. As part of the company’s end-to-end ecosystem, Shift4’s Marketplace connects restaurants and other businesses with numerous third-party applications, including solutions for online ordering, online reservations, employee scheduling, accounting, loyalty, marketing, and more. These solutions are typically offered with special pricing exclusive to Shift4 customers and utilize data from the POS system for a fully integrated experience.”

DATA & PRIVACY NEWS:

Cross-Border Data Transfers: Spain's Data Protection Authority Imposes Its Largest Fine

Quotable: “On March 11, 2021, the Spanish Data Protection Authority (“AEPD”), imposed the regulator’s largest ever fine, totaling €8.15 million ($9.378 million), upon Vodafone España, S.A.U (“Vodafone”), a telephone operator, for violating multiple data protection laws while Vodafone carried out marketing campaigns. Most notably, it penalized Vodafone for non-compliant data transfers. Below is a summary of the four fines imposed by the AEPD and recommendations for organizations hoping to minimize the risk of similar scrutiny from the Spanish regulator.”

What a Federal Data Privacy Law Would Mean for Consumers

Quotable: “For better or worse, the United States is an outlier across many global metrics, and its approach to consumer privacy is no exception. While most nations are in the process of enacting or strengthening federal privacy laws, the United States is set to become one of the few major global economies without federal online privacy protection. For consumers whose personal information is frequently blatantly abused, this situation needs to change.”

TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY NEWS:

The COVID pandemic is calling out the hospitality industry on its biggest bluff: wellness

Quotable: “It's grown into more than a marketing hook — it's a massive industry. A report from the Global Wellness Institute put the value of the wellness economy, which includes but also extends beyond hospitality, at an estimated $4.5 trillion in 2017-2018. But what the pandemic — and the attempts at recovery — has thrown into sharp relief is that the much-lauded wellness amenities of the pre-COVID era are just not going to cut it anymore.”

Read last week's newswire: Loyalty Newswire – March 22nd, 2021

The Loyalty Newswire is compiled and edited by the staff at The Wise Marketer.