Vicinity to Integrate Prio's Incentive Marketing Tools

Vicinity Corp. signed an agreement with Prio Inc., a provider of online reward and affinity programs, to integrate Prio’s incentive capabilities into Vicinity’s SiteMaker product.

SiteMaker is a template-based Web creation tool that allows national brand merchants to develop Web sites for their local stores while maintaining brand identity.

Prio’s online incentive capabilities now give Vicinity’s national brand customers the ability to offer store-specific promotions online. It also offers local merchants a personalized reward system that drives consumers to make more immediate purchase transactions. Financial arrangements were not disclosed.

“By embedding Prio’s promotion services into our SiteMaker product, we can help local stores drive more foot traffic and give consumers an easy and convenient way to earn rewards,” said Eric Winkler, Vicinity’s vice president of marketing.

Prio uses the consumer’s existing American Express, Visa or Mastercard as the vehicle to receive and use valuable rewards. After enrolling in the Prio program online, consumers can browse national brand merchants, local retail stores and/or restaurants on Vicinity/Prio Internet partner sites.

Upon finding a desirable promotion, they shop at the online or physical storefront; consumers’ credit card accounts are automatically credited with the value of the reward, which will appear on their next credit card statement.

Vicinity’s product suite of private-label and co-branded content and services includes Business Finder, the Wireless Locator Service, Maps, Driving Directions and Business Directory.