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US market offered rewards for contactless payments
16 Jul 2012

US-based company Punchcard has teamed up with mobile payment service Wipit to offer businesses the ability to create loyalty and rewards programmes for consumers who prefer contactless payment.

Some 60 million Americans have been described as ‘cash-preferred’ and this new partnership aims to rewards those customers.

Punchcard uses a mobile app, available on both iPhones and Android operating systems. Users take photographs of their receipts from local participating merchants and earn points (or ‘punches’) on their virtual loyalty cards. Over 10,000 nationwide businesses in the USA currently use this scheme.

This simple method of verifying purchases aims to reduce the amount of physical reward cards consumers have to carry in their wallet.

Andy Steuer, CEO of Punchcard said "Payments and loyalty go hand and hand. Wipit's cash-preferred consumers are value conscious and a great fit for a program like Punchcard that continues to reward them for their loyalty. We're excited to help businesses cater to Wipit's targeted consumer audience of more than 70 million prepaid wireless subscribers in the U.S. who are rapidly adopting smartphones."

With two-thirds of new mobile buyers opting for a smartphone, contactless payments and virtual reward schemes will continue to increase in popularity over the next few years.
This partnership will also benefit local businesses as the initiative will make it easier for them to deliver promotions, incentives and rewards that will reach a wider audience. The reward card system will also allow companies to tailor their rewards to meet the personal likes and needs of their customers.

Using Wipit’s prepaid cash payments, the mobile phone app will reduce the amount of cash customers have to carry.
Punchcard and Wipit’s partnership aims to speed up transactions whilst giving customers an easier way to monitor their reward points.

As more and more people purchase smartphones, this latest collaboration will change customer engagement with reward systems all over North America. There is no news of this scheme making to the UK yet but watch this space.