Location-based social network Foursquare has teamed up with American Express to launch a range of voucher-free offers in the UK, following a similar campaign in the US last year.
Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley said he believes the service will help the location-based social network reach the same popularity in the UK as it has in the US within “another year or so”.
The deal will see participating outlets identified through the social network, and then users trigger savings by handing their Amex credit card to the cashier.
A number of major retailers and service providers have already signed up to the scheme in the UK, including Tesco, House of Fraser, Primark and Nando’s.
The scheme relies on the participants using their physical credit card to qualify for the savings to be credited to their account within five working days.
American Express says it is uniquely positioned to offer the service thanks to its “closed-loop” business model in which it acts as card issuer, merchant acquirer and payment processing operator.
American Express stresses that it does not share data on its members’ spending habits with Foursquare.
Digital formats have now overtaken physical music sales in the UK, with downloads accounting for 55.5% of total industry revenues of £155.8m in Q1, according to new data.
According to figures compiled by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) the impressive growth in digital boosted the record industry’s overall market value by 2.7% to £155.8m and helped to offset a decline in sales of CDs.
The BPI’s figures show income from digital sales has risen by nearly a quarter year-on-year to £86.5m.
However, revenue from physical formats, such as CDs and vinyl dropped by 15% and now represents just £69.3m.
The BPI’s digital music revenues are based on downloads, subscriptions and ad-supported music services.
They show digital album downloads have risen significantly during the first three months of the year, by a shade under 23%, overtaking revenues from downloads of single tracks for the second successive quarter.
Last year the UK music industry as a whole was worth £795m, down 3.4% on the previous year. It was worth £1.2bn in 2003.