Sionic Mobile today announced the free ION Rewards™ for consumers and ION Loyalty™ for merchants apps will be available for download on June 4, 2012 in iTunes® App Store and Google Play® markets.
ION helps merchants get and keep good customers, cut credit card fees and earn extra income wherever and whenever their customers redeem ION offers. Smartphone users earn IONs for buying the things they already buy, referring their favorite places and using the ION smartphone app to pay for their purchases.
ION was first released in late 2011 with a handful of high-traffic restaurants in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. “What a fortunate experience for us to thoroughly test our app in such a demanding environment at the world’s busiest airport,” said Bob Burroughs, VP Product Marketing of Sionic Mobile. “We listened carefully to both merchants and customers, fine-tuned the apps’ features and functions based on their exact needs and wrapped a common-sense business model around it to bring it all together.”
ION merchants pay a small success fee only when consumers stop in, spend money and redeem offers. Though customers typically include offers as a part of their total purchase, merchants pay the success fee only for the offer portion of the sale – a first and unique to the industry.
Another industry first, ION uses next-gen payment service Dwolla so consumers can pay with their phone at any ION merchant, earn extra IONs and leave their wallet in their pocket or handbag. Merchants want Dwolla because they pay nothing for sales under $10 and only $0.25 for anything above. With ION and Dwolla, there is no special chip or device required by either merchant or customer.
A pre-release launch party is being held in the Grand Ballroom of the Georgia Tech Hotel & Conference Center in midtown Atlanta from 6pm-9pm on Saturday, June 2nd. Members of the press, forward-thinking business owners, city leaders and smartphone loyalists are welcome to be the first to download and use ION during the event for free food, premium cocktails, beer and wine and to receive a special gift.
Visit www.ionevent.eventbrite.com to register for the free preview event.
About ION
ION is the first, fully digital shared loyalty service combining merchant offers, customer rewards and mobile payments in easy-to-use apps for tablets and smartphones. Designed especially for in-town, neighborhood shops, restaurants and service providers, ION relies exclusively on existing customer-merchant relationships for spreading the word and pays both for doing so. ION helps merchants get and keep good customers, cut credit card fees and earn extra income wherever and whenever their customers use ION. Smartphone consumers love to earn IONs for buying the things they already buy, referring their favorite places and using ION to pay for their purchases. The ION Rewards™ for consumers and ION Loyalty™ for merchants apps are available as free downloads in both iTunes® App Store and Google Play® markets. For more information: www.ionrewards.com