Content area
Full text
A start-up person-to-person payments network is teaming with a daily-deals service to tie the use of coupons to a customer's prepaid card.
The partnership between Zala, the P2P network, and Monster Offers, a Bonsall, Calif.-based company that helps consumers find merchant offers, could become more prevalent as banks look for ways to maintain rewards programs in the face of lower fee revenue.
"I kind of frame this up [as] the next evolution of rewards," says Patricia Hewitt, the director of the debit advisory service at Mercator Advisory Group in Maynard, Mass.
"There's a direct connection between the payment form and the merchant offer," Hewitt adds.
Zala and Monster Offers are in the early stages of fleshing out their technology, but the goal is for users of the deal service to be able to redeem offers simply by paying from their designated prepaid account.
Under one model, a consumer automatically would apply a discount or other reward simply by paying with the card at the participating merchant. Information about the deal would be attached to the card, and Zala's processing system would be able to apply the discount directly to the purchase, eliminating the need for consumers to carry paper coupons or discount codes and making it easier for merchants to track use of offers.
Under a separate approach, consumers could purchase a deal, such...