Square’s Debuts Rewards Program: Do Merchants Care?

Square added a new feature to its Square Register and Pay with Square mobile applications this week: new loyalty “punchcards” will help merchants track customer purchasing activity, giving those customers deals and freebies in exchange for data.

Potential deal offers include discounts off first visits, buy-several-get-one-free offers, and discounts unlocked by a certain amount of spending. Square has uploaded a video demo to its website to demonstrate the new features.

Some merchants might enjoy the expanded loyalty capabilities Square rolled out this week. But others are still waiting for customers to use the payment technology in the first place.

PYMNTS.com reached out to Bostone Pizza, a nearby restaurant that accepts Pay with Square payment. A cashier at the store told us that a Square representative stopped by last week to explain the new features, but that none of the changes should have much impact on the business in the short term.

“No one really requests to use it, to be honest,” our contact said.

But that response seems to run counter to what Square told Venture Beat: that businesses using Square Register are “five times more active on a weekly basis” than those using only the dongle, and that Register users are processing double the revenues.

What are your thoughts on Square’s new loyalty features?