rogers communications, canada’s leading telecommunications company, launches vicinity, a loyalty solution for small and medium canadian businesses built on fivestars’ loyalty automation platform.

san francisco, ca – may 29, 2013 – fivestars, provider of the most widely used loyalty automation platform for small and medium businesses in the us, announced today that it has worked with rogers communications inc., one of canada’s largest companies and a leader in telecommunications services, to launch vicinity, a loyalty solution for canadian small and medium businesses. this is the first significant launch of “powered by fivestars”—fivestars’ international alliances strategy.

we are excited to be working with rogers on this initiative,” said victor ho, co-founder and ceo of fivestars. “as we assessed our strategy for international expansion, we determined that canada would be a good first market. working side-by-side with the rogers team on their evaluation, we learned that our two companies were well aligned on values and vision. it’s a great match. we’re looking forward to working closely with rogers as they roll the program out.”

for fivestars, a company that this month also recorded its ten millionth loyalty purchase, this agreement will mark its official entry into the canadian market. additionally, rogers will be among the first to launch a loyalty automation offering of this type for canadian small and medium businesses.

canadian small businesses are thriving and across the country, they are ready to embrace digital technology that will help to grow their business and deepen customer relationships,” said fiona lake waslander, general manager, vicinity. “we chose fivestars’ platform for our customers because of its technology ip and its easy and seamless implementation for a small or medium business.”

fivestars provides the only loyalty automation platform that can integrate with merchant point of sale (pos) systems. unlike check-in apps such as foursquare, belly, or flok, the fivestars loyalty automation platform enables smbs to drive increased customer spend per visit by rewarding and engaging customers based on their actual spend. fivestars’ approach represents a compelling alternative to daily deals, which often deliver unprofitable one-time customers. by contrast, loyalty automation is about helping companies build long-term customer relationships and increasing customer lifetime value.

with vicinity, rogers is targeting the over one million smbs in canada who today rely on paper punch cards or other non-digital solutions for their loyalty program, if they have one at all. vicinity will be building its sales team over the coming year to serve these businesses.

fivestars is regularly approached by potential partners due to its unique, patent-pending pos technology, and plans to launch additional “powered by fivestars” international partnerships in the coming year, as it expands its footprint around the world. fivestars will also continue to grow domestically with its own sales team and in partnership with fivestars authorized resellers.

businesses can find out more about the fivestars loyalty automation platform at fivestars.com/businesses.

about fivestars
fivestars provides the most widely used loyalty automation platform for small and medium businesses, making it easy for them to acquire, retain, and grow customer relationships. fivestars is the only vendor that can integrate with merchant point-of-sale (pos) systems, enabling businesses to improve their customer service and automatically reward and engage customers after the sale based on their spend. fivestars also gives consumers the freedom of a single card to earn store-specific rewards across thousands of businesses. visit www.fivestars.com.

more details on this announcement via these media outlets:

• the next web: fivestars takes its loyalty program out of the us, landing in canada in partnership with rogers
• pando daily: digital loyalty startup fivestars expands to canada
• street fight magazine: fivestars partners with rogers in canada, launches ‘vicinity’
• wall street journal: fivestars begins international expansion through exclusive agreement with rogers
• yahoo! finance: new loyalty program for canadian small businesses rewards local shopping
• mobile syrup: rogers launches vicinity loyalty program, apps available on iphone and android
• canada newswire: new loyalty program for canadian small businesses rewards local shopping
• it business canada: vicinity makes it easier for smbs to reward customer loyalty
• wall street journal: new loyalty program for canadian small businesses rewards local shopping
• business press 24: fivestars begins international expansion through exclusive agreement with rogers
• tech investor news: digital loyalty startup fivestars expands to canada
• telecompaper: rogers launches loyalty and automation platform