Businesses today are always ready to get a leg-up on their competition, coming up with different ways to stand out from the crowd to attract new customers and keep their current ones interested. Loyalty programs are a way to do just that by providing coupons, cash back, discounts, gift cards, freebies and points. According to Statista, as of 2017, the average Canadian is enrolled in roughly 12.2 loyalty programs with 7.3 being actively used. Some of the most popular success stories include the Starbucks and Sephora loyalty programs. The Starbucks app helps you collect stars with the goal of redeeming rewards, like free drinks and Sephora offers members free birthday gifts and beauty classes.
Canada is home to some pretty original and prosperous loyalty programs. As an app development agency, we are always excited to hear about new and innovative ideas, which is why we decided to take a look at Canada’s top 6 booming loyalty startups which help consumers earn points on their credit and debit cards, provide an inventive grocery experience, help small businesses keep their customers interested and gift rewards to consumers for shopping local.
1. Drop: Linking Credit and Debit Cards to Earn Points
According to the team: “Drop is the first flexible, consumer-led, intelligent mobile rewards platform focusing on the user experience. With over 1 million members, Drop is one of the fastest growing apps and recently hit top 3 in the App Store under Lifestyle. Through the app, members link their debit and credit cards to automatically earn points, eliminating the need to scan receipts, enter promo codes or sign up for additional loyalty programs. Drop lets members earn points and instantly redeem rewards while shopping at all their favourite brands. Headquartered in the heart of Downtown Toronto, Drop is building the next generation rewards platform. Drop is disrupting the $40+ billion loyalty market with a strong focus on design, user experience, and engineering. We are executing fast and growing quickly; our current team is a passionate and diverse group with experience from top startups and Fortune 500 companies such as Airbnb, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs.”
Location: Toronto
Employees: 1 – 10
Website
Angel List Profile
2. Unata: The Digital Grocery Experience
According to the team: “The way that people shop for groceries is fundamentally different than any other retail category – from frequency of shops and repeat items, to the high number of average items per basket, to the unique types of promotions and variations between stores. We’ve built a digital experience that accounts for these intricacies and ensures a best-in-class shopper experience specific to grocery.
Unata powers the future of 1-to-1 omni-commerce for retailers, interconnecting all digital touchpoints including circulars, ecommerce, loyalty programs and beacons through an omni-channel experience that links web, mobile, email and more. Unata’s award-winning platform integrates with a retailer’s ERP/POS/loyalty systems and leverages their data with our machine learning recommendation technology to ensure true personalized shopper experiences, thereby increasing customer loyalty and spend.”
Location: Toronto
Employees: 51 – 200
Website
Angel List Profile
3. PayWith: Efficient Commerce Experience for Cardholders
According to the team: “We are committed to making card programs better for the consumer. Better card programs mean the programs are more efficient, more profitable, more engaging for the consumers. Our programs deliver a better commerce experience for the cardholders. PayWith and MasterCard Worldwide worked together to develop this ground breaking new mobile payments merged with marketing & rewards solution. For consumers, we developed a mobile (virtual) credit card that rewards consumers every time they PAY WITH their phone. Consumer get discounts, benefits and rewards from their favourite merchants. Merchants can track frequency, spend, purchasing history, and more… for every customer. Decreased fees and real ROI calculations for all merchants.”
Location: Vancouver
Employees: 1 – 10
Website
Angel List Profile
4. Kangaroo Rewards: A Loyalty Marketing Platform
According to the team: “Kangaroo is a loyalty marketing and customer engagement platform for your business. It offers a suite of features geared towards helping you generate additional revenues. Imagine offering unlimited customers, loyalty, rewards, raffles, a referral program, a tier program, digital stamp cards, and so much more, all from one place: Kangaroo! Imagine communicating with your customers via Text (SMS), Email and in-App Notifications, all from one place: Kangaroo! Imagine bringing back new customers, re-engaging dormant automatically with a marketing engine that works for you: Kangaroo! Imagine creating a simple promotion, or a full fledge marketing campaign all with a few clicks that will engage thousands of customers with a simple click, all from one place: Kangaroo! Kangaroo also offers a white-label, brandable solution to make your loyalty program 100% your own, including your own smartphone app.”
Location: Montreal
Employees: 11 – 50
Website
Angel List Profile
5. ReUp: Mobile Loyalty for Independent Businesses
According to the team: “ReUp is making mobile loyalty a reality for independent businesses. ReUp allows users to build their own custom loyalty experiences for iOS and Android devices. ReUp has built a simple drag and drop solution, resulting in the big brand experience without the big brand price tag. Completely self-service, ReUp has a global reach and is perfect for restaurants, cafes, salons and gyms looking to offer their customers a convenient loyalty option. Make better business decisions using real time customer loyalty and spending data. Do more for the people who are loyal to your business. Offer exclusive rewards and special deals, plus other custom features like order ahead and booking. Build personal relationships on autopilot. Communicate directly with the right people. Automatically track and make use of user trends and habits. ReUp gives you the tools and supports you need. We personally drive your success, working in the background so that your customers engage directly with you and your brand.”
Location: Toronto
Employees: 1 – 10
Website
Angel List Profile
6. Vicinity: Rewards for Shopping Local
According to the team: “We’re Vicinity, a small business loyalty platform. We’re all about rewarding you for shopping local & loving your ‘hood. And free stuff. Mostly free stuff. Shop local. Earn rewards. Vicinity lets you earn points and collect rewards at hundreds of participating neighbourhood businesses. Vicinity is simple, free, and best of all, it’s one card that works at many of your favourite restaurants, coffee shops, salons, gyms, retail stores, and more! Use the Vicinity app to: discover participating businesses near you, track all your Vicinity points and rewards in one place, and register for a new account to get started.”
Location: Toronto
Website
Twitter
After reading up on some of these impressive loyalty startups, it is clear that Canada knows how to come up with innovative and creative loyalty program options, anywhere from linking your payment cards for earning points, to getting rewards and benefits for supporting small local businesses. It’s time to go shopping!
