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American Express builds consumer loyalty via foursquare mobile partnership

American Express and foursquare have teamed up to offer cardmembers exclusive mobile offers from H&M, Sports Authority and Union Square Hospitality Group.

The partnership will enable American Express cardmembers to link their foursquare accounts to their cards to load and redeem merchant specials. The partnership will also let consumers redeem offers without the need for coupons, special codes or by having to show their mobile devices to cashiers at the point-of-sale.

?Foursquare is the best platform for merchants who want to build customer loyalty,? said Erin Gleason, PR manager at foursquare. 

?Through partnering with Amex on nationwide deals, we?re taking our Specials platform to the next level by creating a completely effortless, frictionless redemption experience for both merchants and customers,? she said.

?This partnership also eliminates the cost and effort associated with employee training.?

Deal of the moment
American Express cardmembers can get special offers from H&M, Sports Authority, and Union Square Hospitality Group.

The service is expected to expand rapidly to include additional national and local merchant offers in the coming weeks and months.

Cardmembers can sign up to receive deals by visiting American Express? Web site at http://sync.americanexpress.com/foursquare.

Consumers can then link their card to their foursquare account to discover exclusive American Express Specials at foursquare venues.

When consumers see a special on foursquare, they can check-in and load the special to their card.

After consumers spend at the merchant with their enrolled card, they receive a push notification that says that they redeemed the offer and will receive a statement credit in three to five days.

?Through this partnership, we can help merchants measure the value of their offline marketing with foursquare,? Ms. Gleason said.

?Merchants will now be able to get data on how many users saw a particular Special, and how much value that customer brought the merchant,? she said. ?Meanwhile, customers will be able to save while they spend in a much more seamless way.?

Current offers
Currently, cardmembers can load specials from H&M, which is giving them $10 back when they spend $75.

Additionally, Sports Authority is giving $20 back when consumers spend $50.

In the coming weeks, American Express plans to roll out an online tool for merchants to create couponless offers in social media networks in just a few clicks.

?When we launched our pilot program with AmEX in March, the response was overwhelmingly positive,? Ms. Gleason said. ?So, after SXSW, we sat down with American Express to plot how we could work more with their millions of merchants.?