Premium loyalty program provider Clarus Commerce has acquired PrizeLogic to add rebate and promotion engine and rich first-party customer data as third-party tracking cookies are on the way out and Apple’s new iOS operating system severely limits marketers’ access to user activities.
The combined company will leverage comprehensive loyalty, rebate and promotion solutions into a single suite, helping brands drive engagement and influence behavior across the entire customer journey.
“We are thrilled to announce our acquisition by Clarus, which brings together two highly experienced and respected loyalty and consumer engagement organizations,” said Ryan LaMirand, CEO of PrizeLogic in a release. “Our complementary technology, capabilities and customer-centric culture will create significant opportunities that should position us to continue to drive innovative solutions that further support the evolving demands of our clients.”
PrizeLogic’s Engage platform combines consumer insights with data activation to power incentive programs for brands such as Molson Coors, PepsiCo, Samsung, T-Mobile, Lowe’s and Capital One.
Clarus Commerce CEO Tom Caporaso said the two companies are “taking a stepped approach” to integration, listening and learning as they prioritize next steps. “We’re a couple months away from an integrated go-to-market plan,” Caporaso said. “On our side, clients are asking for features and functionality of PrizeLogic.”
The acquisition represents a broadening of Clarus’s traditional offerings, he said.
“We firmly believe in the premium loyalty space we’ve been in for eight or nine years, but we do see an opportunity for non-paying, free tier programs, where we can start aggregating data to get a deeper understanding of the customer to segment and personalize offers,” said Caporaso said. “As we think about the end-to-end loyalty stack, we’ll work with clients to help them understand what the end consumer wants and their pain points, so they can think about a structured program that makes sense.”
Caporaso said the addition of PrizeLogic’s promotion engine will help its retailer clients add new-to-file customers, leveraging first-party data as a key component as moves by Google and Apple as well as regulatory changes tighten privacy restrictions and limit marketers.
PrizeLogic’s Customer Data Platform within Engage houses rich first-party data, providing insights on engagement and purchases from millions of consumers.
“Acquiring first-party data is going to be really important,” said, referring to Apple’s just-released iOS 15 with its ability to let users hide their email address and block tracking pixels. “There are only going to be more headwinds as you think about this major shift. More companies are building loyalty programs, turning them into opportunities to collect 1P data in ways that benefit both parties, with personalization and segmentation so they can engage with the brand in different ways.”