[dfriedmn]

Haven't we seen enough of these?

I'm thinking punchd, Belly, LevelUp, Plink, not to mention offerings from Groupon, foursquare... They may be able to profitably acquire businesses now, but isn't it a coinflip as to who will win in the long-term?

[fookyong]

This looks a lot different to the others out there.

Most of the startups you mentioned are trying to retrofit the loyalty card paradigm to smartphones. I'm not sure that's the right approach - time will tell.

It looks like FiveStar simply works with a business' existing POS / magnetic scanner - and is enhanced by social / mobile. I think that's a smarter, more frictionless approach.

The winner in this space will be the one that's easiest for a business to integrate. Both on a technical level via integrating with POS systems but on a human interaction level: if you're Starbucks you can't tell 17,000 stores that they have to faff with iPhones every time a customer wants to stamp their card.

[larrys]

"I think that's a smarter, more frictionless approach."

One thing though about Level up. It sits right on the counter and is a big ad for Level up. The reason I know about Level Up (don't use it just mentioning) is that I walked into the local coffee shop one day (in the middle of nowhere) and it was sitting plop on the counter with a smartphone lighted up in a cool color. It totally got my attention. So there is at least some value to that hardware in that it gets you "counter space" to promote Level Up.. That's not the same as a door label or cash register label (which is flat and doesn't really stand out much) which Five Stars will probably use. Of course nothing to prevent them from offering a gizmo to do a similar thing if they want (are you listening Five Stars?)

[akincisor]

You should take a look at https://cardspring.com/

[prezjordan]

The key here is that they are not introducing new technology. It's old school, and that appeals to local business quite a bit.

[pbreit]

"but isn't it a coinflip as to who will win in the long-term?"

One of the more ill-informed questions I've heard in awhile. Do you have any idea how much energy, persistence and brains go in to creating a successful, winning service?

[beedogs]

I'm guessing he does, which is why he's wondering exactly how there came to be a half dozen players in this incredibly tiny market niche.

[AznHisoka]

I think it's one of those sexy tech ideas everyone thinks they brilliantly discovered first.

[pclark]

you think customer loyalty is a niche? it applies to every business on the planet. it's one of the largest markets you could attack.

[salman89]

I don't think this is a winner take all space. I am more interesting in understanding how these products are differentiating against each other, most importantly in how they plan to drive more sales for the business. I'm not sure how valuable social exposure is for businesses - do check-ins really drive more traffic through the door?

[pclark]

if by coin flip you mean whoever executes the best, yep. "haven't we seen enough of these" sounds extraordinarily condescending.