Sumitomo Mitsui Card, Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS, DNP and T Point have joined the CardLinx Association, the association for online-to-offline commerce and card-linking.
These firms join existing members including Rakuten, Samsung Card, Facebook, Microsoft, MasterCard, American Express and SK Group among others.
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Card-linking is an online-to-offline digital commerce technology, which allows consumers to get a real-time discount or loyalty benefit when using a payment card that has been linked to an offer.
In order to use these benefits, users do not require any paper coupons, promotion codes or loyalty cards.
According to the 2016 CardLinx Annual Card-Linking survey, US card-linking transactions have increased by around 50% in the last 12 months and similar growth is projected for Asian consumers.
CardLinx president and CEO Silvio Tavares said: “Our rapidly growing membership in Japan and Asia demonstrates the effectiveness of card-linking to drive customer acquisition and loyalty for merchants.
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By GlobalData“Tokyo is a natural location for our CardLinx Asia Forum. It is clear that the Japanese market has embraced card-linking and this will drive widespread consumer adoption.”
Additionally, the association has announced to organise its Asia Internet & Mobile Commerce Forum on 7 February 2017 in Tokyo, Japan, which brings together senior executives from card-linking innovators from across Asia, North America and Europe to discuss industry trends, foster cross-industry partnerships and collaboration on standards.
