ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sionic Mobile today announced the addition of complimentary iBeacons to its ION Loyalty small business merchants. The ION Loyalty merchant app has been enhanced to monitor the iBeacon with little or no impact on the mobile device battery. In the coming weeks, the Company’s consumer app, ION Rewards, along with partner apps reaching nearly 100 million mobile customers, will be updated to take advantage of the iBeacons.
Beacons represent the next phase of mobile payments and mobile loyalty platforms. Currently 85 of the top 100 retailers have adopted or have plans to adopt beacon technology, and experts anticipate beacons to impact an estimated $44 billion in US retail sales in 2016. Sionic Mobile selected iBeacon technology from Apple, continuing its support of in-store, one-tap checkouts using Apple Watch and enabling small businesses and local merchants to leverage the same mobile technology as larger, big box retail chains, but with no upfront costs or investments.
“Small businesses are the cornerstone of our economy, and we are committed to delivering sophisticated mobile solutions that meet the unique needs of these local merchants,” said Ronald Herman, CEO and founder of Sionic Mobile. “ION Loyalty is simple to use, and eliminates the traditional barriers like rising costs, hardware and software requirements, or simply lack of time and resources that up until now, have prevented many small business owners from taking advantage of the mobile opportunity. In less than 10 minutes, a small business owner can be up and running on ION Loyalty, and with the new iBeacons, the customer experience is far superior to other mobile apps available today.”
ION Loyalty for small businesses has quickly become the preferred alternative to Square, PayPal Here and others, due to its low-cost payment fees, instant customer rewards and unlimited mobile marketing. Merchants are able to process mobile payments quickly and securely on their phone or tablet using a proprietary, three digit code checkout process, eliminating the need for extra hardware.
Herman continued, “To remain competitive and relevant in today’s market, small businesses must have a mobile strategy that goes beyond just payments, and instead enhances the overall customer experience. We have helped thousands of small business owners nationwide go mobile with ION Loyalty. Its incredible to see how quickly these business owners begin seeing results from positive customer feedback regarding the added convenience, an uptick in repeat business because of the instant rewards, as well as an increase in general foot traffic due to the mobile marketing and advertising.”
Sionic Mobile operates the nation’s premiere merchant marketplace representing more than 100,000 retail and restaurant locations nationwide. ION Rewards users earn IONs – on top of credit card points – that spend like cash every time they checkout. It is the only universal rewards program allowing consumers to earn and spend rewards with zero restrictions at any merchant in the ION Marketplace.
To learn more, please visit www.IONLoyalty.com.
About Sionic Mobile
Midtown Atlanta-based Sionic Mobile provides low-cost payments bundled with mobile marketing and customer loyalty to businesses and instant rewards to consumers at checkout. The Company’s universal rewards, called IONs, help merchants keep good customers coming back more often and are awarded in addition to customers’ credit card points. Consumers may spend IONs (1,000 IONs = $1.00) at any merchant in the ION Marketplace on anything at any time. Businesses use ION LoyaltyⓇ securely online, on mobile devices or through their POS system, eliminating the need for new equipment. Consumers use the free ION RewardsⓇ app for iOS and Android for in-store checkouts.
