Punchcard Goes National – Rewarding Customers with Cash Back at Their Favorite Merchants, Retailers and Restaurants across the U.S.
New mobile loyalty rewards program that started in Southern California now available at 15 million retail and restaurant locations
Punchcard, a mobile engagement and loyalty network, announced today that the company’s new mobile loyalty program, available through a mobile app, is now available nationwide, giving consumers a simple way to get rewards from the businesses they frequent most. Punchcard gives smartphone users access to rewards from millions of businesses of all types including specialty retailers, restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops and many others. Punchcard grew rapidly in Southern California where it debuted earlier this year and after a few months has changed the retail landscape for many local businesses and consumers.
For anyone interested in earning rewards, the process is simple: Download the Punchcard app, called "Punchcard -- Official" in the App Store and Android Market, and after visiting a business, simply take a photo of the receipt at the point of purchase after which Punchcard will verify your purchase so you can earn "punches" at the places you love to shop. After completing a punchcard at any business, the Punchcard user is entitled to a reward -- in most cases, it's cash back, but it can also be a free meal, free clothing, free haircut, or a gift card. The Punchcard app replaces the stacks of individual loyalty cards people have been expected to carry in their wallet and have available at the time of purchase.
"We're thrilled to make the Punchcard app available to benefit both consumers and merchants throughout the U.S.," said Punchcard CEO Andy Steuer. "Consumers get rewarded with cash back for shopping at the places they love. Loyal customers are the lifeblood to a local business, and Punchcard provides a way for those businesses to increase the revenue generated from these customers while shortening the consumer re-purchase cycle. The result is more revenue in a shorter period of time at lower costs. It's a win-win for both the consumer and merchant."
"I think Punchcard is spot-on with the direction of the marketplace with regard to where loyalty programs are headed," said Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, Inc., a leading research and consulting firm that tracks local advertising. "Punchcard incorporates the basic elements of social marketing with frequent customer rewards to broaden the opportunities for local businesses, and to grow revenues from their most important customer base.”
Recently the company introduced Punchcard for Business, a new business-side marketing solution that gives local merchants valuable insights into customer purchasing behavior, along with the ability to automatically push offers directly to consumers’ smart phones via the Punchcard Mobile App. Pioneering Online 2 Offline (O2O) consumer and merchant solutions in what has been called a trillion dollar market, Punchcard for Business gives local businesses a live link to customer mobile devices along with a way for local businesses to push relevant offers to consumers based on their past purchasing behavior. The result is that consumers receive targeted offers from local businesses that they love and local businesses can finally communicate with consumers in an automated fashion. This is especially important for local merchants as 15% of their customer base typically generates 60% or more of their profits.
“We have spoken to thousands of local businesses and hear the same comment over and over again: customer acquisition is expensive and, regardless of where they are advertising, they often don’t know if their marketing efforts are producing repeat purchases from their customers,” continued Steuer. “Punchcard for Business provides a way for those merchants to increase the revenue generated from these customers and shorten the consumer re-purchase cycle, while also gaining insights into which customers are their best customers and which customers need an incentive to come back more frequently.”
Punchcard For Business offers merchants insights into customer purchasing behavior via in-store analytics, combined with an automated mobile marketing solution that allows the local business to send highly targeted offers to customers and re-acquire and reward the ‘Right Customer’ on a cost effective basis. Consumers benefit as well by receiving valuable offers from businesses that they love.
The lines between online and offline are blurring and Punchcard is at an inflection point in the market where consumers use their mobile phones several times an hour when they are shopping or eating at their favorite restaurants. Punchcard provides a way for consumers to get rewarded for being loyal customers, and for merchants to be able to re-acquire those customers on a more cost effective basis. The company expects to see that the net result is consumers will increase their purchase frequency.
Punchcard is backed by Idealab and has raised $1 million to date.
About Punchcard
Punchcard is a mobile engagement and loyalty network designed to give merchants an effective way to retain customers while rewarding shoppers for making frequent purchases at their favorite retailers. The Punchcard app is a mobile platform that uses an electronic "punchcard" system that is easy-to-implement and simple to use for shoppers and merchants alike. Merchants get real-time data about their customers’ buying habits, as well as social and other demographic information that allows them to provide their loyal customers with targeted offers and rewards. Punchcard is run by Gigway, Inc., an Idealab company, headquartered in Pasadena and was founded by Andy Steuer in 2011. For more information, please visit www.punchcard.com, and connect with Punchcard on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
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