Dunkin’ Donuts’ Dunkin’ Mobile payments and rewards app has been downloaded more than 10m times since its launch in 2012 and two million customers have signed up for its DD Perks loyalty program, available on mobile and via a plastic card, the US merchant has revealed... More
Rewards
Ugo launches open NFC payments and rewards wallet in Canada
Ugo, an open NFC mobile wallet developed by Canadian banks President’s Choice Financial and TD Bank Group, is now available to customers of all three major Canadian carriers who own one of a range of supported BlackBerry 10 and Android NFC devices... More
United Airlines to let passengers pay for airport food and drinks using award miles
United Airlines is to install more than 6,000 iPads across Terminal C of Newark Liberty International Airport to enable members of the airline’s MileagePlus reward scheme to use their award miles to pay for food, beverages and other airport amenities... More
LoyaltyGrid uses NFC tags to let luxury brands reward their customers at the point of sale
Dutch startup LoyaltyGrid has unveiled a solution that lets luxury brands use NFC tags embedded in product packaging to guarantee the authenticity of their products — and deliver rewards, discounts, exclusive content, invitations to special events and other incentives directly to their customers... More
Starbucks claims a 90% share of the US mobile payments market
Starbucks accounted for more than 90% of all mobile transactions in the US last year, the coffee chain’s CEO Howard Schultz has revealed during a fourth quarter earnings call in which he also set out plans to continue to dominate the mobile payments space. More
SK Planet to roll out Bluetooth beacons to 10,000 stores across Korea
SK Planet has launched a new Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) service in Korea that offers customers reward points and benefits directly on their mobile device whenever they enter a participating retail location. The BLE beacon-based solution is expected to be installed in more than 10,000 stores by next month. More
Perkwave builds in Apple Pay for pay-at-the-table
Harbortouch, a US-based point-of-sale system and merchant services provider, has unveiled Perkwave, a mobile app that uses Apple Pay to let customers pay at the table in participating restaurants. The service also includes loyalty and rewards functionality to encourage customers to pay using their mobile device. More
Starbucks to offer mobile ordering and payments across US in 2015
Starbucks customers in Portland are to be the first in the US to be able to order and pay for their coffee ahead of arrival and the service will be rolled out across the country in 2015, the company has announced... More
Korea’s SK Planet buys US BLE offers platform Shopkick
Mobile offers platform Shopkick, which is working with a number of high profile US retailers to roll out a network of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons, has been acquired by SK Planet (SKP), operator of Korea’s largest shopper rewards program and part of the same group as carrier SK Telecom... More
Macy’s unveils mobile payments and customer marketing plans
Macy’s Inc, owner of the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department store chains, has unveiled plans to implement a range of new technologies designed to provide an omnichannel shopping service to its customers... More
Subway to accept mobile payments in 26,000 US locations
Subway restaurants across the US are to begin accepting NFC mobile payments on 1 October, using new POS terminals that carry branding from mobile network operator-owned commerce venture Softcard... More
Apple to offer rewards to mobile payment users?
Apple is to pilot a merchant partnership program that “may be related to Apple launching a loyalty/rewards program”, Bank Innovation reports, citing “multiple sources with knowledge of the program”... More
Retailer-owned payments venture MCX unveils CurrentC brand
Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), the mobile payments venture co-owned by US retail chains with collective revenues of more than US$1 trillion annually, has announced that its payments, loyalty and offers platform is to be called CurrentC — and provided the first details of how the service will work when it rolls out to 110,000 merchant locations across the US in 2015... More
UK retailers install hi-tech mannequins that let customers buy what they see in the window
UK retailers House of Fraser, Hawes & Curtis and Bentalls are using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons installed in display mannequins to let customers get information about outfits displayed in their shop windows and around their stores, receive special offers and buy items with their mobile phone... More
Starbucks now processes six million mobile payments a week
Coffee chain giant Starbucks now has 12 million active users of its mobile app in the US and Canada alone... More
Jamba Juice gives away 1m NFC smoothies
One million free juices and smoothies have been given out free of charge by Jamba Juice to Isis NFC mobile wallet users since the ‘Million Free Juice or Smoothie Giveaway’ promotion launched in October 2013... More
Amazon releases mobile wallet app for Android
Amazon Wallet, an Android app that lets users store gift cards and loyalty cards on their mobile phone, is now available to download from Google Play and the Amazon Appstore... More
Nintendo adds NFC payments
Nintendo Wii U users in Japan can now use the NFC interface built into their GamePad controller to purchase games with a Suica contactless payment card... More
Four in ten mobile wallet users choose mobile as primary mode of payment
While convincing consumers to make use of a mobile wallet remains an issue for many providers, shoppers that do convert to mobile payments make extensive use of the technology, Nielsen’s Q2 2014 Mobile Wallet Report has found... More
PayPal offers loyalty rewards
PayPal has introduced a rewards program for “our most active and enthusiastic customers who use PayPal online, in store, or on mobile devices”... More