First Data Corporation, a global leader in electronic commerce and payment processing, today announced the availability of the First Data OfferWise solution, a new open platform that dramatically simplifies the offer redemption process for consumers and merchants as a part of First Data's vision to deliver universal commerce.
The First Data OfferWise solution allows offer publishers to electronically attach offers such as deals, eCoupons and loyalty programs to one or more of a consumer's payment cards or mobile wallet to enable streamlined and automatic redemption of the offer at the point of sale (POS). First Data is currently piloting its OfferWise solution with dozens of merchants and it will be made available to its more than four million U.S. merchant locations.
The OfferWise solution can link offers to any type of payment card including all major credit association brands, PIN or signature debit. Offers are redeemed in real time at the merchant's POS with immediate feedback provided through the payment terminal or smartphone. In most cases, merchants can leverage their existing system which minimizes or eliminates any impacts to the checkout process and employee training.
"Our OfferWise solution will enable millions of merchants to create highly relevant mobile marketing experiences with their customers by converting traditional paper coupons, loyalty cards, or receipts into software linked to a payment card or mobile wallet," said Dom Morea, SVP and division manager, Advanced Solutions and Innovation at First Data. "This launch illustrates how First Data is delivering an innovative universal commerce experience to consumers—one that is fully integrated wherever, at anytime and through any device."
Through a breakthrough Application Programming Interface (API) developed by CardSpring, developers can now easily integrate into the OfferWise solution and allow offer publishers to close the loop between online and mobile distribution of offers and in store transactions.
The standard API enables merchants to work with their offer publisher of choice and provides an open platform that enables any publisher to deliver online/offline marketing and commerce applications. Merchants can increase their marketing ROI by leveraging the First Data OfferWiise solution's analytics engine to improve consumer targeting and offer performance analysis.
"We are delighted to partner with First Data to bridge the gap between online commerce and the physical world," said Eckart Walther, CardSpring CEO. "The combination of the OfferWise solution and CardSpring API is a significant step forward in the evolution of the web by allowing the $200 billion online advertising industry to bring friction-free performance marketing and commerce applications to retailers and shoppers. Our platform enables developers to create innovate, new applications for payment cards, while delivering a super simple, real-time consumer experience that works across every type of card."
The OfferWise solution was built from the ground up to protect consumer and merchant privacy. Both merchants and consumers control access to data and applications, providing a strong opt-in model and protected consumer experience. Consumers explicitly need to accept and can remove individual offers or loyalty programs. Additionally, the platform leverages the First Data® TransArmor® solution that uses a combination of tokenization and encryption technologies to secure sensitive payment card data.