,

Report: Card-linked offers show growth surge

WM Circle Logo

By: RickFerguson |

Posted on May 31, 2017

The CardLinx Association this week released new data from the 2017 Card-Linking and O2O Industry Annual Survey. The new 2017 data is sourced from the largest merchants, payment companies, digital publishers and card-linked technology companies including CardLinx members Microsoft, Samsung, Facebook, Mastercard, Discover, Whole Foods Market, Hilton, Sears, First Data, FIS, Empyr, Affinity Solutions and many others. This year's survey shows over 80 percent of respondents indicating at least 50 percent growth over the last 12 months - the highest growth rate since the inception of the survey. 
Card-linking technology enables consumers to enroll their existing payment card in any digital account and receive targeted offers and discounts in-store without using a paper coupon, loyalty card or promo code.  The survey revealed that 98 percent of respondents will continue to use card-linked marketing or loyalty campaigns in the next 12 months and 95 percent will use card-linking as their key online-to-offline commerce strategy.

Money quote from CardLinx President and CEO Silvio Tavares:

"Over the past 12 months, card-linking has emerged as the killer app in online-to-offline (O2O) commerce and the Internet of Things. The scale of card-linking has been firmly established in the US and we are now driving rapid growth in several of the largest developed economies including Japan, Germany and Switzerland."

Other key survey findings include:

  • Loyalty rewards surge in popularity: Compared to last year's survey, twice the percentage of respondents now offer loyalty rewards in their card-linking programs versus cash back offers. Increased use of loyalty rewards signals an industry that is moving beyond customer acquisition to drive increased engagement and loyalty.
  • The killer app for AI: Shopping: Participants indicated that artificial intelligence (AI) assistants will be the most promising new digital advertising platform.

Access the full 2017 report and survey findings here.