PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Punchcard, a local shopping app that lets you earn personalized rewards everywhere you shop, announced today that the company is partnering with Wipit (www.wipit.me), a mobile payment service available for web, Android or iOS smart phone applications, to further deepen the relationship between buyers and sellers. Through the partnership, business owners can create loyalty and rewards programs for consumers who use cash as their preferred method of payment, an audience that represents over 60 million adults in the U.S. and approximately 25% of all U.S. households. These programs attract new customers, while creating incentives for existing customers to return again and again.
Instead of “checking in,” Punchcard works at the “checkout” giving users rewards for frequenting their favorite businesses and replaces the stacks of individual loyalty cards people have been expected to carry in their wallet and have available at the time of purchase. Punchcard is easy to use: simply shop at any one of the 15 million local retail businesses where Punchcard works, take a photo of your receipt with the Punchcard app to verify your purchase and earn “punches” on a punch card for that business. Rack up the punches and earn free rewards or cash back for being a loyal customer of that business.
Wipit provides consumers a single-click payment experience for mobile and online ecommerce purchases. Consumers can visit over 10,000 nationwide retail locations to fund their accounts with prepaid cash that is available immediately for spend. The service is focused on enabling un-banked and underbanked consumers to participate in mobile payments and in-app purchases.
By partnering together, Wipit allows mobile consumers to pay for purchases in mobile apps or online using cash, and Punchcard makes it easy for these consumers to get rewarded for their loyalty to their favorite businesses. For local businesses, Punchcard makes it easy for a business to deliver promotions, incentives and rewards around these payments-driven events.
“Payments and loyalty go hand and hand,” said Andy Steuer, CEO of Punchcard. “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 smart phones.”
“The explosive growth of smart phones in the prepaid wireless segment has created a huge opportunity to engage these cash-preferred consumers with loyalty programs and location-based promotions,” said Richard Kang, CEO of Wipit, Inc. “We believe that Punchcard will bring new, innovative ways to engage our consumers and the businesses that serve them.”
About Wipit, Inc.
Wipit, Inc. is a Southern California headquartered company founded to provide financial services solutions for the un-banked and underbanked consumer. Wipit’s payment service enables consumers to shop online or make in-app purchases using prepaid cash payments. The company has strategic partnerships with and is invested in by global companies H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) and Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: EEFT). Wipit’s founders and management team include executives in the financial services and wireless telecommunications industry, including founding team members of some of today’s most successful prepaid wireless carriers. For more information, visit www.wipit.me.
About Punchcard
Punchcard is a local shopping app where you earn personalized rewards everywhere you shop. Use Punchcard at more than 15 million local businesses and earn free rewards or cash back from your favorite retailers. With Punchcard, merchants communicate directly to customers and loyal customers receive personalized offers from their favorite businesses. Everybody wins. 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+.