Borrowing from the success of the airline industry's renowned frequent flyer program, LoyalBlocks also introduced 'Status' - the industry's first tiered membership model, allowing merchants to tailor different rewards for different levels of loyalty, based on frequency of visits.

"Whether you're a small business or a global chain, you are constantly looking for ways to effectively market your location," said Ido Gaver, LoyalBlocks' co-founder and CEO. "LoyalBlocks leverages advancements in mobile, cloud, and location services to provide an all-inclusive loyalty-marketing solution for merchants along with a delightful and rewarding experience for their customers. I see it as my personal mission to develop marketing solutions that were traditionally only available to corporate giants and make them accessible to small merchants everywhere."

Unlike other loyalty-marketing solutions currently available in the market, the LoyalBlocks platform is incredibly simple to use in-store, and is designed to create a wholly seamless interaction between business and consumer. Utilizing proprietary hardware based on iBeacon technology, the customer's phone "wakes up" as soon as he or she enters a LoyalBlocks-equipped business, showing unique offers, rewards or messages, and triggering a personalized in-store experience. No additional steps, such as sign-ins or swipes, are necessary. All that is required of merchants to utilize the platform is to create their own free account online and go live on LoyalBlocks within minutes.

"There are many reward-based programs out there, but the vast majority of them offer gamified and contrived experiences with a dangerously short shelf-life," said Ido Mart, Vice President of U.S. Operations at LoyalBlocks. "Our goal is to make sure that every interaction between merchant and customer feels natural, intimate, and rewarding. LoyalBlocks is designed to allow for direct and open communication between merchants and their customers."

"We've tried other channels to communicate with our customers before," said Brad Mire, VP of Izzo's, a Louisiana-based chain of Mexican restaurants, "but none come close to LoyalBlocks. We've more than 8,000 followers on the platform, and when we used LoyalBlocks to announce a promotion to our customers last fall, we shattered a single day sales record without spending a nickel on the campaign. All we needed to do was send a message to the people that already have a relationship with us. That's how loyalty marketing ought to work. There's no better return on the investment out there."

With its new release, LoyalBlocks marks the next step in the evolution of marketing tools for local businesses. Russell Mikowski, Vice President of Sales at LoyalBlocks and former head of inside sales at Living Social noted: "Business owners don't believe in magic any more. The belief in daily deals as a primary marketing strategy is quickly deteriorating - shifting the focus from customer acquisition to customer retention. The tools that actually prove effective are ones that stay true to what customers expect - a natural, personalized experience that recognizes and rewards true loyalty. That is in essence what LoyalBlocks offers, and why I believe it is poised to dominate the SMB  marketing space."