New loyalty program for Canadian small businesses rewards local shopping

Vicinity, a new loyalty and automation platform, helps Canadian small businesses drive traffic and customer engagement

TORONTO, May 29, 2013 /CNW/ - Rogers Communications announced today the availability of Vicinity, a new loyalty and automation platform for small and medium businesses in Canada. The platform provides local retail businesses across Canada with the opportunity to execute customized loyalty programs that recognize, reward and communicate with customers to drive repeat business.

"Small businesses across Canada are looking for cost effective, turn-key solutions to drive growth in their business and establish meaningful customer relationships," said Fiona Lake Waslander, General Manager, Vicinity. "Vicinity integrates easily into businesses, providing a simple platform to drive return traffic and increase customer lifetime value while encouraging residents to support local businesses."

Vicinity is powered by a loyalty automation platform that integrates with retail businesses' point-of-sale systems, developed by US-based company, FiveStars. The FiveStars Loyalty Automation Program enables small businesses to drive increased customer spend per visit by rewarding and engaging customers based on interaction with the business.

Through an exclusive agreement, Rogers will provide Canadian small and medium businesses with access to a FiveStars' technology under the Vicinity banner.

With Vicinity, Canadian small and medium businesses can now build loyalty programs that integrate with their existing point-of-sale systems and allow them to:

• Build cloud-based customer databases
• Generate automated targeted offers and customer communications
• Access professional reporting tools and dashboards to track offers, points and ROI

Consumers simply register for a Vicinity rewards loyalty card at a participating local business and access their rewards profile online or on the Vicinity mobile app available for Android and iPhone smart phones. Participating businesses can offer a variety of rewards to customers including points to be redeemed for service or merchandise and targeted discounts. As additional businesses implement the Vicinity loyalty solution, consumers can use their existing loyalty card to collect rewards across the network of Vicinity locations.

"We know that Canadian small businesses are starved for affordable digital solutions that make it easy to connect with consumers and grow their business. The launch of Vicinity marks another milestone for our overall local digital portfolio," said Nyla Ahmad, Vice-President, Local Digital, Rogers. "Vicinity joins Outrank and Zoocasa as part of our growing suite of local digital services that leverage intelligent technology platforms to efficiently bring buyers and sellers together at the local level."

Vicinity is available today for small businesses in Toronto and will roll out to other Canadian cities in the coming months.

For more information about Vicinity, visit http://www.vicinityrewards.ca.

SOURCE: Rogers Communications Inc.

Allison Fitton, Rogers Communications
[email protected]
416-935-8860