Visa Delivers Real-Time Discounts and Promotions to Mobile Consumers When and Where They Shop

SAN FRANCISCO, Apr 21, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), a global leader in payments, today announced it is working with Gap, a leading global specialty retailer, to deliver real-time discounts and promotions to consumers via SMS text messages. Gap customers who opt-in to participate in the service are notified of money-saving discounts or promotions in real-time while shopping.

Visa's global processing network, which connects millions of merchants and thousands of financial institutions around the globe, is the enabling technology behind this new mobile service. Consumers receive valuable offers on their mobile devices when qualifying transactions are made with enrolled Visa accounts. The offering is part of Visa's larger strategy to personalize the consumer shopping experience, and deliver more value to merchants and financial institutions to help them tailor their consumer marketing programs, driving business growth and efficiencies.

"Visa's ability to process and analyze transactions in real-time provides the capability for retailers to reach potential customers while they're out shopping and allows financial institutions to reward Visa account holders with value-added services tailored to them," said Jim McCarthy, Global Head of Products, Visa Inc. "We have reached the point when the power of Visa's global network goes well beyond processing purchases to delivering critical information that benefits consumers, merchants, and financial institutions."

Gap launched the new Visa service in November 2010 as a pilot program to test the customer response to receiving real-time offers on their mobile phone. Gap customers enrolled via a secure website and were sent Gap offers when they made Visa transactions meeting certain pre-determined program criteria, such as shopping at a merchant within a specified zip code, a specific merchant category type, or spend on a specific day or during a specified time period. Customers redeemed those offers by simply presenting the text message displayed on their mobile devices at the Gap.

"As an early adopter of innovative new technologies we were excited to be the first global retailer to test the new Visa service," said Amy Carr, Director of Customer Relationship Management Strategy, Gap Inc. "It provided us insight into our enrolled consumers that we never had in the past, which improved the targeting of our promotional programs, timing of communications and allowed us to tailor offers to Gap customers."

Visa plans to make the new service available to retailers nationwide.

About Visa Inc.:

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks--VisaNet--that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

SOURCE: Visa Inc.

Visa Inc.
Elvira Swanson, 415-932-2564
globalmedia@visa.com
or
Gap Inc.
800-333-7899, ext. 75900
press@gap.com