Starbucks Rewards has 30+ million members. Dunkin’ Rewards has 15+ million. Chipotle Rewards is bigger than the population of most US cities. Independent coffee shops, salons, and restaurants? Most still rely on a paper punch card and a Sharpie behind the counter. Pointify gives you the same loyalty infrastructure the chains use — for the price of a streaming subscription.
Independent vs chain — the American loyalty divide
The gap between a national chain’s loyalty program and an independent shop’s loyalty program isn’t about effort. It’s about access to technology. Building an in-house loyalty app the way Starbucks did costs millions in engineering, design, and ongoing maintenance. Even Square’s and Toast’s loyalty add-ons are built primarily for businesses already running their full point-of-sale stack.
Pointify is different. It’s a shared loyalty platform — one app that works across thousands of independent businesses. A customer who installed Pointify at a coffee shop in Brooklyn can earn points at a salon in Chicago, a yoga studio in Austin, and a bakery in Portland. For each business, that means access to a customer base that already has the app installed — you’re not asking customers to download yet another loyalty app for one shop.
Built for the US main street
Pointify is built for the businesses you actually pass on the way to work. The corner coffee shop, the Mexican grill, the family-run bakery, the nail salon, the barbershop, the gym, the yoga studio, the juice bar, the bookstore, the breakfast spot, the food truck. Mom-and-pop businesses that compete with the chains on quality, hospitality, and personality — not on tech budget.
A digital punch card — done right
Paper punch cards have three problems. They get lost. They get faked (anyone with a Sharpie can fill in stamps at home). And they generate zero data — you have no idea who your repeat customers actually are.
Pointify replaces them with a QR code that lives in the customer’s phone. The customer can’t lose it (their phone is always with them). They can’t fake it (the QR is unique per scan and tied to their account). And every transaction creates a data point you can use — how often they visit, what they redeem, when they stop coming back.
Run promotions like the chains do
Limited-time campaigns are why national chains drive predictable mid-week traffic. Pointify gives independent shops the same lever: configure a campaign with start and end dates, optionally tied to a points multiplier or a special reward, and customers see it in their app the moment it goes live.
Common campaigns Pointify partners run:
- Double points Tuesday — smooth out the slowest weekday.
- Holiday bonus — 100 bonus points on every purchase the week of Thanksgiving / Memorial Day / Fourth of July.
- New customer welcome — first scan earns 50 points instantly.
- Birthday reward — free item on the customer’s birthday week.
- Weekend special — double points Saturday and Sunday only.
Setting one up takes about ninety seconds in the dashboard. There’s no posters to print, no email blast to design, no Instagram ad to buy — the campaign reaches every customer who has scanned at your business at least once.
Pricing, hardware, contracts — the awkward questions
Pricing. The first month is free. After that it’s a monthly subscription, no annual contract, no minimum term. Cancel from your dashboard at any point. Pricing details are shared during business signup.
Hardware. None. The Pointify business app runs on the smartphone or tablet you already have. No card readers, no proprietary devices, no hardware leases.
Integration. None required. Pointify runs alongside your existing point-of-sale — whether that’s Square, Toast, Clover, Shopify POS, Lightspeed, Revel, or a basic cash register. The card terminal handles payment; Pointify handles loyalty. They don’t need to talk to each other.
Contracts. Monthly billing. Cancel anytime. No legal review required — the terms are short and standard.
How it works at the register
- Customer arrives, opens the Pointify app, taps “show QR”.
- You scan their QR code from the smartphone or tablet you already have at the register.
- Points credited instantly — the customer sees their balance update in real time.
- When they have enough points, they redeem in-app for a percentage discount, dollar amount off, or a free item — whatever you set up.
Total time at the register: under five seconds. Faster than handing back a punch card.
Pointify across the entire United States
Pointify is available everywhere in the US — no geographic restriction. Whether you run a coffee shop in midtown Manhattan, a barbershop in a small Texas town, a juice bar in suburban Atlanta, a bakery in rural Oregon, or a yoga studio in a New Hampshire ski village — the technical requirements are exactly the same: a smartphone (iOS or Android), tablet, or computer with internet. That’s it.
There’s no “supported cities” list your business has to be on. No minimum daily customers, no zip-code restrictions, no state limitations. Every US business with an internet connection can launch Pointify today — in a major metro, a college town, a county seat, or an unincorporated community.
English-language support is available for businesses in every US state, city, town, and rural community. Example locations (not an exclusive list): New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, Austin, Seattle, Boston, Miami, Atlanta, Portland, Denver, Nashville, Minneapolis, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Detroit, Pittsburgh — and every other city, town, and rural community across all 50 states.
What independent owners say about Pointify
Quotes from owners participating in the pilot program. First names used with written permission.
Example: a Brooklyn coffee shop
A small independent coffee shop in Williamsburg, open seven days a week, averaging 180 customers per day. Average ticket $7.20, around 38% repeat customers.
Pointify setup: 4 points per $1 spent (the platform’s standard rate — same for every currency). Rewards: 320 points = 10% off, 800 points = free drip coffee, 1600 points = free latte + pastry. A “double points Wednesday” campaign launched in week two, plus a one-week “welcome to Pointify” campaign giving 200 bonus points on first scan.
Result after 90 days: 612 registered customers. Repeat customer share (defined as visiting at least once per week) rose from 38% to 51%. Wednesday revenue grew 22% versus the previous quarter. Program cost: $0 in the first month; ongoing reward redemption cost ≈ $85/month (mostly the marginal cost of a coffee given away for points, which is a few cents on the dollar).
This is a hypothetical example — real numbers depend on a lot of variables. But it gives a sense of how a simple digital loyalty program can translate into actual takings on a US main street.
Want to try it?
The first month is free. After that, you decide if it’s worth keeping. Send us a message and we’ll get you set up — usually within 24 hours.
Frequently asked questions
Does Pointify work with Square, Toast, Clover, Shopify POS, Lightspeed, or Revel?
Pointify doesn’t need to integrate with your point-of-sale. The Pointify business app runs alongside — staff scan the customer’s QR code on a separate phone or tablet, completely independent of how the customer pays. Square, Toast, Clover, Shopify POS, Lightspeed, Revel, traditional ECR — doesn’t matter. The card terminal handles payment; Pointify handles loyalty.
What about CCPA / CPRA (California Consumer Privacy Act)?
Pointify is aligned with California’s CCPA / CPRA. We collect the minimum data needed to run the loyalty program (email address and points history). We do not sell personal information, do not run advertising trackers, and do not share data with third parties beyond what’s technically required to operate the service. California consumers can request access, deletion, or opt-out via the in-app privacy controls or by emailing support@pointify.org. Full details in our privacy policy.
Is Pointify a US company? How does invoicing work?
Pointify, Inc. is headquartered in Kraków, Poland, and operates in the US through standard cross-border SaaS channels. Invoices are issued in USD for US businesses. After the first free month, monthly billing follows; cancel from the dashboard at any point.
Do I need to issue a 1099 / W-9 for Pointify?
Pointify is a SaaS subscription, not a contractor relationship — the same tax treatment as your accounting software, your website host, or your email provider. No 1099 reporting is required from your side; we handle our own tax obligations.
What about sales tax on rewards?
Reward redemption is handled at your point-of-sale, just like any other discount. If you give a $5 reward, you ring up the order with a $5 discount and your existing POS calculates sales tax on the discounted amount per your state’s rules. Pointify itself doesn’t touch the transaction.
Can a multi-location business use one Pointify account?
Yes. A single business account can manage multiple locations, with separate dashboards per location plus a roll-up view of total customer activity across the chain. Useful if you’re running a small chain of 2–10 locations and want loyalty consistency across all of them.
Do I need to train my staff?
No — the workflow is “scan a QR code”. Five minutes is enough. The Pointify business app is in English by default.
More Q&A in our FAQ.
Have questions?
- Email: support@pointify.org
- Contact form: contact us
- Common questions: FAQ
- About the team: about us