The program is the first to allow merchants to attract and retain customers buying small dollar-value items and services - such as a cup of coffee or a music file download - without requiring a separate pre-enrollment process or additional card. Peppercoin's approach to loyalty transforms a standard credit or debit card purchase into an opportunity to build a long-lasting customer relationship.

"As we make personalized fitness readily available by allowing users to download trainer-designed workouts to any MP3 player, we want to reward our customers and inspire them to try new fitness routines," says Sebastien Reant, co-founder of iTRAIN, a breakthrough, web-based company that provides personalized audio fitness programs easily downloaded to consumers' MP3 players. "Peppercoin's solution allows us to very quickly implement a loyalty program that is easy for customers to use and enables us to encourage users to take advantage of our wide range of workouts, from cycling to boxing."

"Peppercoin's platform eliminates many of the barriers merchants face in implementing loyalty programs and provides a cost effective way to increase profitability through improved customer retention," said Mark Friedman, president and CEO of Peppercoin. "Uniquely, it extends the value of the existing card already issued to the consumer and seamlessly turns a regular card purchase into a chance to enhance customer value and loyalty."

How It Works: Peppercoin's Small Payments Suite -- Improving Customer Loyalty

Merchants can automatically enroll a customer at the time of purchase by swiping or tapping their card at the point-of-sale (or securely gathering the card details online in a digital environment), without requiring a separate application process. Each time the customer uses their card with the merchant, Peppercoin records their participation and eligibility for awards based on rules defined by the merchant. Peppercoin's solution provides flexibility in terms of tracking awards either in dollars or "point" denominations. Peppercoin's loyalty solution works with all common purchasing options -- prepaid, post-paid, subscription and pay-as-you-go.

With Peppercoin's rules-based approach, merchants now have an unprecedented level of flexibility and ease when it comes to determining criteria for rewards. For example, to encourage peak purchasers to revisit during off-peak times, a merchant can provide extra incentives for making purchases at slower times of the day or week.

The Peppercoin software tracks all customer transactions and, for point of sale merchants, will automatically include information such as a rewards summary on the receipt. It can also trigger a coupon. By reporting the rewards on each receipt, or integrating that detail into the online purchase confirmation process, merchants can remind customers how much they appreciate their business.

Peppercoin Loyalty offering enables awards such as:

A coupon for 20% off breakfast with a purchase of $20 or more at lunch

The twentieth online music download free

An hour of free parking tied to opening a prepaid account of $25 at a downtown parking garage

"Traditionally, loyalty programs tied to small payments have been a challenge, especially for point of sale merchants, due to the high cost of customer acquisition and the length of most program applications," said Michael Friedman, director, Emerging Technologies, Mercator Advisory Group. "Loyalty programs are a key way to raise the overall lifetime value of a customer. Peppercoin's new offering will help extend these programs to merchants who could not realize their benefits in the past."