Timed to Halloween and the presidential election, New York-based social loyalty startup CrowdTwist analyzed user data related to brand preferences for chocolate and political affiliation. Its data suggest that Democrats tend to prefer non-premium chocolate, while Republicans opt for more up-market sweets. Read more »
Kiip, a mobile reward network, announced it has raised $11 million as it looks to become more of a consumer-facing company. The startup will release a wallet app called Kiipsake that will let users organize and manage their rewards. Read more »
Groupon is reportedly testing out its own Square-like mobile payment service. It’s a sign that local deals and loyalty providers are increasingly looking at adding mobile payments services to help build out their tool set for merchants and retailers. Read more »
Mirth and Cardify are two of the latest start-ups that are building loyalty programs that tie into credit and debit card accounts. That’s a growing opportunity thanks to enablers like CardSpring but it also means more competition. Read more »
In an attempt to move beyond being a provider of deals, Groupon is launching a loyalty program for U.S. consumers and merchants, part of a bigger effort to become the “operating system for local commerce.” Groupon Rewards gives merchants a way to track and recognize loyalty. Read more »
Facebook confirmed that it has acquired customer loyalty service Tagtile, which helps merchants distribute rewards, offers and coupons to in-store customers via their phones. The deal follows the acquisition of Instragram this week and it shows that Facebook is looking at shoring up its mobile needs. Read more »
Kiip, a mobile monetization startup that offers real rewards to game users who hit in-game milestones, is now going after bigger brand advertisers with a new feature called Swarm, which engages millions of users in multi-player tournaments with the top winners walking away with big prizes. Read more »
Mobile shopping reward app Shopkick is realizing its full potential by tying into Visa’s payment processing network, helping close the loop on transactions and providing new incentives for users to make purchases. Users will now get rewarded not just for visiting a store but buying products. Read more »
Gamification, that buzz word panned as hype by some, has increasingly won over companies, investors and even research firms like Gartner, which now predicts half of all companies will use gamification by 2015. So what’s next? How about gamification certification? Read more »
Here on the internet, just because you build it, it doesn’t mean anyone will actually come. Or click on a link. Or leave a comment. Or become a Facebook fan.YouSendIt co-founder Ranjith Kumaran wants to change all that with his loyalty-marketing startup, PunchTab. Read more »
