Dubai’s RTA to introduce loyalty programme for Nol cards — Gulf Business — “The programme, called Nol+, will be available to the public by the end of this year. Cardholders will receive points for using them to pay for fares of public transport means, parking fees, entering public parks, and visiting the Etihad Museum. The points will then be converted into coupon vouchers offering free services in cafes, restaurants and entertainment centres.”
Rewards
Baseball team uses iOS 11 to issue NFC tickets to fans
An MLB team is using the iPhone’s NFC feature for contactless stadium entry — Techcrunch — “The Oakland Athletics are piloting a new NFC ticketing solution which lets fans enter the stadium by tapping their phone (or Apple Watch) to a ticket scanner — just like you’d do to use Apple Pay. The feature uses the NFC technology that is used for contactless rewards cards (like Walgreens Balance Rewards) via Apple Pay, and this is the first time the technology is being used outside of reward cards or stored balance gift cards.”
Hilton lets customers pay with points for Amazon purchases
Hilton Honors members can now shop with points on Amazon — Hilton — “Members simply need to complete a one-time link of their Hilton Honors account to their Amazon.com account. Once complete, Hilton Honors members can choose the amount of points they wish to use when checking out their purchase at Amazon.com.”
Premier Food Service adds rewards to contactless vending machines
Premier Food Service selects USA Technologies as a strategic partner as they move toward connecting 100% of their machines to cashless payment — USA Technologies — PARTNER NEWS — “‘As personalization becomes more common in the marketplace, we wanted to be one step ahead of the trend with customer loyalty and reward programs being at the center of our go-to-market strategy,’ said Gary Kurth, chief operations officer, Premier Food Service… ‘USAT has made it easy for companies like ours to quickly deploy innovative cashless payment technologies across our business so that we can better engage consumers at the point-of-sale and build in customer loyalty programs.’”
Samsung Pay rolls out loyalty program in Singapore
Samsung introduces latest series of enhanced wearables and new Samsung Pay loyalty programme — Samsung — “Consisting of three loyalty tiers – Gold, Silver and Bronze – users can level up across the tiers after meeting a target number of transactions. With each level-up achieved in the Samsung Rewards programme, users can get to earn more points per transaction, reaping additional rewards in return.”
Burger King has launched its own cryptocurrency in Russia called WhopperCoin
Burger King has launched its own cryptocurrency in Russia called WhopperCoin — CNBC — “With each purchase of the burger chain’s signature Whopper sandwich, customers can receive WhopperCoin tokens via a digital wallet… WhopperCoin transactions will be powered by Ethereum rival Waves’ distributed ledger network. The blockchain platform allows users to issue and transfer custom blockchain tokens, and to trade them on an integrated peer-to-peer exchange.”
More than half the Hilton portfolio to be digital key enabled by end of year
More than half the Hilton portfolio to be digital key enabled by end of year — Hilton — “Hilton Honors members have widely adopted the app’s technology features and continue to set new records for usage and engagement, including 30m digital check-ins, three million room key downloads and more than 13.6m doors opened. In the month of July, a door was unlocked with Digital Key every two seconds.”
JCPenney adds credit cards and loyalty rewards to Apple Pay
Customers of US department store chain JCPenney can now add the retailer’s credit card to Apple Pay and make contactless payments at any of the company’s stores nationwide... More
PayPal to let Citibank and Chase customers pay with loyalty points
Citibank and JPMorgan Chase customers across the US will soon be able to make online purchases using loyalty points as currency at “millions of merchants” that accept PayPal... More
Apple unveils promotional campaign to win Chinese consumers to Apple Pay
Apple unveils promotional campaign to win Chinese consumers to Apple Pay — South China Morning Post — “Consumers using Apple Pay to make payments in designated online and offline merchants in mainland China that display the logo of UnionPay’s QuickPass facility will receive discounts of up to 50% and as much as 50 times the usual amounts of reward points for credit cards.”
Santander pays 5% cashback when you pay by mobile phone
Santander pays 5% cashback when you pay by mobile phone — Which? — “Santander 123 Lite Current account customers can earn 5% cashback on all purchases using their debit cards via Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. The two-and-a-half month deal runs from 17 July to 30 September, with the bonus paid out by the end of November.”
Scotiabank adds multi-loyalty programs to mobile banking apps
Customers of Canada’s Scotiabank can now add, access and track their loyalty cards from 18 different programs using the bank’s mobile banking and My Mobile Wallet apps, which have been integrated with “multi-loyalty program functionality” supplied by loyalty network Points... More
Google is running a massive Android Pay promo in Australia with 200,000 prizes worth $1.6 million
Google is running a massive Android Pay promo in Australia with 200,000 prizes worth $1.6 million — Android Police — “The gist is that you must be setting up Android Pay for the first time, or you must have set up a card previously but never used it. When you set up a new card in Australia or use your existing card for the first time, you will kick off a 30-day promo. Each transaction (up to 10 per day) gives you a virtual envelope, which could award you up to $500 in gift cards when opened.”
Punchh brings Apple Pay to restaurant loyalty program
Punchh brings Apple Pay to restaurant loyalty program — Punchh — “Users visiting participating restaurants will soon be able to not only pay for their purchases, but earn and redeem rewards and loyalty points using Apple Wallet… Brands including Smashburger, Quiznos, and MOD Pizza will be offering Apple Pay with the Punchh integrated solution starting later this year.”
San Francisco retailers offer special discounts and prizes through Apple Pay
US consumers will be given exclusive offers and discounts on purchases when they choose to make a payment using Apple Pay in stores across the Hayes Valley Shopping District and San Francisco Marina as part of Apple’s Lose your Wallet promotion... More
Amazon gives 2% rewards back to Prime members who deposit cash via their bank account
Amazon gives 2% rewards back to Prime members who deposit cash via their bank account — GeekWire — “Amazon Prime Reload gives customers 2% back when they reload their Amazon Gift Card Balance with a connected checking account and linked debit card. For example, if you load $100 onto your Gift Card Balance from your checking account, you’ll get an extra $2 in Amazon dollars added within minutes.”
Target to combine offers with mobile payments to create a “one-stop shop” for customers
Customers of US retail giant Target will soon be able to redeem offers and make in-store payments using a single service on their mobile phone, as the chain announces plans to fully integrate its Cartwheel offers app into its main Target mobile app to enable a “one-stop shop”... More
French casino to give visitors and employees biometric cards for access and payments
Visitors and employees at the newly opened Pleinair Casino in Marseilles, France will soon be given a biometric smart card equipped with a fingerprint sensor that will enable them to gain access to privileged areas and make payments across the venue... More
McDonald’s Taiwan launches smart cards
McDonald’s Taiwan launches smart cards — Taiwan News — “McDonald’s Taiwan is launching new stored-value cards which can accumulate points to exchange for menu items… Each purchase of NT$10 (US$.33) will result in the the accumulation of one point and with a certain number of points, the holder can obtain a menu item for free and discounts of up to 15%.”
Guide explores key benefits of Samsung Pay
PARTNER NEWS: A 10-page guide that explores how Samsung Pay works and its key benefits is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre... More