Verifone to Support Loyalty and Rewards Programs via Apple Pay
Verifone, a leading payments solution and technology company, announced it will be one of the first to support customer loyalty programs associated with Apple Pay. The company plans to do this by enabling its NFC terminals to accept customer rewards cards.
Apple confirmed that the following companies will offer its reward programs under Apple Pay in the coming months: Walgreens Balance Rewards, Kohl’s Yes2You Reward program, Coca-Cola, Dunkin’ Donuts, Panera Bread, Wegmans Food Markets, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and JCPenney.
“Adding loyalty to Apple Pay will open a world of opportunity for a wide range of merchants to engage consumers and grow their businesses,” said Vin D’Agostino, executive vice president of Commerce Enablement at Verifone.
“We are proud to support Apple Pay in expanding contactless payments to include loyalty. This is a powerful reminder of Verifone’s expertise and expansive client relationships, as we continue to simplify payments and enhance customer engagement opportunities for our merchants.”
To start, the MX 915 and MX 925 terminals will be equipped to handle the new features. Dunkin’ Donuts, JC Penney’s, Kohl’s, Panera Bread, Wegman’s, and Whole Foods are the first group of retailers that would allow customers to participate in various loyalty redemption schemes on the enabled Verifone units.
Such upgrades can be very advantageous for consumers. During the checkout process, buyers do not have to scan a separate card to accrue points. Both payments and loyalty programs are managed on the platform.
The two terminals are operating on the company’s Secure Commerce Architecture (SCA), which is designed to boost payments security and protect merchants from data breaches. It also streamlines EMV compliance by eliminating the POS system from the transaction model.
“Reducing or eliminating cardholder data breaches must be a priority for any merchant. Verifone’s secure commerce architecture is an elegant solution that virtually eliminates that risk with no significant impact on either the merchant’s POS system or the customer experience,” said Thad Peterson, senior analyst for Aite Group.