The Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards (PCATS) and Loyalty 360, the Loyalty Marketer's Association (Loyalty 360) today announced a partnership to help members continue member development in loyalty marketing practices; PCATS petroleum marketers, convenience store owners/operators and other retail channels will benefit from Loyalty 360's unbiased, market driven "voice of customer" focused clearinghouse and think tank for all loyalty, incentive, reward, and engagement marketing needs, insights and response.
"Loyalty 360, the Loyalty Marketer's Association, is very excited to join forces with PCATS to share best practices across the loyalty, incentive, reward and engagement marketing arena, "says Mark Johnson, CEO of Loyalty 360. "PCATS is a true industry leader that ensures the long term success of its members by facilitating the development and maintenance of industry technology standards. We look forward to working with PCATS to provide a network of research, partners, and resources to drive continued success."
"This win-win partnership between PCATS and Loyalty 360 is a vital step for both organizations," stated Executive Director and CEO John C. Hervey. "PCATS will provide a forum for members of the Loyalty 360 to address and resolve technology requirements issues while Loyalty 360 provides PCATS with factual loyalty-related data and expertise."
The PCATS Retail Financial Transactions Committee works to promote the development, adoption and maintenance of efficient retail financial transaction solutions through global standards. Efforts are made by one of its working groups, the Loyalty Working Group, to develop and adopt a U.S. domestic standard for the exchange of loyalty transaction information and facilitate integration of POS interfaces for use by different loyalty programs, thereby affording retailers the opportunity to participate in various loyalty programs leveraging one standardized interface to their point-of-sale and back office systems.
"PCATS has a solid foundation of members who address loyalty challenges and solutions on a regular basis but our partnership with Loyalty 360 will help us expand upon our knowledge and technical base," said Oasis Stop 'N Go LLC Convenience Stores Partner/CEO and PCATS Loyalty Working Group Chair Patrick J. Lewis. "By working directly with Loyalty 360, we will have access to key industry information to better assist us with the development and maintenance of future loyalty standards." The recently approved PCATS-NAXML Loyalty Specification, version 1.0.3, has been released to the general public and is available today for all industry members.
The next meeting of the PCATS Loyalty Working Group is on Monday, January 26, during the 2009 PCATS Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. The 2009 Annual Conference is open to all retailers, solution providers, and suppliers in the industry regardless of PCATS membership status. For more information, visit http://www.pcats2009.org.
Loyalty 360 powers Loyalty Expo, the 360 degree voice of the customer driven loyalty, incentive, and reward expo were hundreds of professionals gather to learn best practices in customer, client, and employee cultivation, reducing attrition, improving profitability, and navigating through challenging economic times. The next Expo is scheduled for May 31 through June 2, 2009 in Hollywood, Florida. For more information, visit www.loyaltyexpo.com
About Loyalty 360, the Loyalty Marketer's Association
The mission of Loyalty 360 is to provide an unbiased, market driven, "voice of customer" focused clearinghouse and think-tank for all loyalty, incentive, reward, and engagement marketing opportunities, insights and responses. Loyalty 360 actively listens, engages and provides to the marketplace and to its members a forum through which proactively determines true industry metrics, facilitates market driven research and actionable case studies, as well as increase the awareness of, and promotes with integrity, the practices of loyalty, incentive, reward and engagement marketing. Loyalty 360 is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information on Loyalty 360, visit www.loyalty360.org or call 1-513-545-5612.
About Loyalty Expo
The Loyalty Expo promises to create a true "voice of the customer" driven, best-practice focused loyalty and incentive reward conference that will continually provide a forum of best-in-class vision and resources, to assist our members in reaching their ultimate customer relationship. Loyalty Expo is a resource helping businesses find solutions that assist them develop strategies, establish objectives, aide in program development and enhancement, share new technologies and analytic models, and identify differentiation to separate them from competition. For more information on Loyalty Expo, visit www.loyaltyexpo.com or call 1-513-545-5612.
About Loyalty Management
Loyalty Management, a one of a kind, customer driven quarterly publication, creates a documented customer-centric forum for sharing ideas, concepts, and trends across all industries interested in proactively communicating with their customers. For information on subscribing to Loyalty Management or to submit an article, visit www.loyalty360.org or call 630-850-7867.