Facebook buys mobile rewards startup Tagtile
updated 04:10 pm EDT, Fri April 13, 2012
Business loyalty system Tagtile bought by Facebook
Facebook has acquired Tagtile, a startup using mobile phones to manage customer loyalty. This announcement comes at the same time as Facebook Offers became available for businesses to give coupons to customers following them through the social network.
Tagtile supplies merchants a free skewed box which customers can tap with their phones to check-in to the location on Facebook and Foursquare, passing contact details along to the business. The merchant can then send details of loyalty rewards or coupons to the registered device in the future. The hardware used in the device is a stopgap measure until NFC becomes more prevalent in smartphones.
Facebook Offers, the previously announced service that is now active, lets businesses offer customers discounts and promotions through the News Feed or as Sponsored Stories. Combining that with Tagtile would give Facebook a formidable customer loyalty system for business use.
Tagtile was acquired for an undisclosed sum. [via TechCrunch]
