WAWA, Pa. -- Wawa Inc. has joined the Debitman Card Inc. payment networkthe Retailer's Networkand will issue the private-label Wawa Check Card. The card will reward customer loyalty with an initial $5 gift card after the first use, followed by cash rebates on every purchase.
Wawa, which operates more than 550 convenience stores in the mid-Atlantic region, will initiate a pilot phase in late October in the Pennsylvania and Maryland markets. The initial phase is expected to last 90 days, followed by a potential chainwide implementation.
Debitman provides us with the opportunity to reduce the cost of credit and debit card interchange fees, enabling us to share the savings with our customers through an easy-to-use cash rebate program, said Bob Riesenbach, Wawa's manager of new initiatives. The Wawa Check Card is available to any customer with a bank account in good standing, regardless of credit rating, and provides a convenient and safe payment alternative that can be used at many other leading retailers across the U.S.
Consumers who use the Wawa Check Card will enjoy the convenience of using the card at more than 200,000 U.S. merchant locations that participate in the Retailer's Network, including Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and CVS. They'll also earn rebates whenever they use the card at participating Wawa stores or anywhere else Debitman-enabled cards are accepted. Rebates will be deposited monthly directly into the customer's bank account that is linked to the Wawa Check Card.
Mike Grossman, CEO of Debitman, said, PIN-based debit cards are ideal for the convenience store market, because consumers prefer them to credit cards for smaller purchases such as coffee and a hoagie. Debitman's minimal interchange fees make it possible for merchants to combine debit and loyalty rewards programs for customers in a cost-effective manner.
Debitman provides all card-accepting merchants with a low fee per transaction that is significantly less expensive than traditional credit and debit cards, the company said, and provides card-issuing merchants with merchandising rebates that can be used to promote their cards.
San Mateo, Calif.-based Debitman created and operates The Retailer's Network, which it said is the only national, interoperable electronic payment network for retailer-issued debit cards.
Wawa, based in Wawa, Pa., operates more than 550 stores in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Meanwhile, Debitman has been notified by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office that it has been granted U.S. Patent No. 7,104,443, "Method & System For Facilitating Electronic Funds Transactions."
The patent covers Debitman's business model for enabling the use of interoperable merchant-branded consumer debit cards. According to the patent, "The invention provides a method and system for executing electronic funds transactions in which merchant issuers of secure merchant-based debit cards and merchant acquirers of those cards execute electronic debit transactions via the current ACH network."
According to Grossman, the patent covers a wide variety of merchant-issued debit cards, including those that add prepaid, fixed value, programmable and refillable stored value capabilities. "The patent office has recognized the unique value that Debitman has created and this ensures that the company has a defensible mechanism to protect its intellectual property in the marketplace," he said.
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