Boston, MA, June 11, 2008 – A new report from Aite Group, LLC evaluates and compares loyalty vendors and providers. The report examines current trends in the loyalty market and how they will shape the future of loyalty marketing. It profiles eight loyalty marketing vendors and compares their functionality, and offers a side-by-side comparison of the two types of loyalty providers featured in the report: merchant-funded loyalty providers and loyalty platform providers.

Merchants and financial institutions are looking for a way to differentiate themselves from the competition and keep their best customers. This type of loyalty, though seemingly emotional and subjective, engulfs billions of dollars in investments. Behind brand loyalty is a very rational, logical and sophisticated mechanism that employs statisticians, mathematicians, psychologists, behaviorists and other pundits. A number of vendors can help merchants with their customer loyalty programs, but these vendors have different strengths and weaknesses. In order to make the most out of their loyalty strategy, merchants might consider multiple vendor relationships.

"The reward industry is fragmented in many ways. It is made up of different players focusing on different aspects of loyalty," says Adil Moussa, analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. "It was not until very recently that companies started to consolidate their loyalty offering to span across all solutions in the market."

This 70-page Impact Report contains 35 figures and 11 tables. It profiles eight loyalty marketing vendors: Affinity Solutions, Chockstone, First Data, Loyalty Lab, Mall Networks, RewardsNOW, TSYS, and Vesdia Corporation.

Clients of Aite Group's Retail Banking service can download the report.