The company decided to expand globally after finding success in the United States last summer. Consumers can link their cards to receive offers from merchants such as Bella Italia, Café Rouge, Eat, House of Fraser, Nando’s, PizzaExpress, Primark, Strada and Tesco.

“We’re bringing the same seamless foursquare offer redemption experience available to cardmembers in the U.S. to cardmembers in the UK,” said Brad Minor, vice president of social media communications at American Express.

“By syncing their cards with foursquare, savings are automatically credited to the cardmember’s American Express account within 3-5 working days, ensuring a completely smooth transaction for all parties involved,” he said.

Global expansion
The American Express and foursquare promotion lets cardmembers link their cards to foursquare by going to http://www.sync.americanexpress.co.uk.

Once the account is synced, consumers can see specials on foursquare and take advantage of them when they check-in to the merchant and load the offer to their card.

After they buy any items, consumers then receive a push notification stating that they redeemed the special and will receive an American Express statement credit in three to five working days.

For example, when a consumer spends $15 or more at Bella Italia, they get $15 back.

“Amex’s partnership with foursquare has been a huge success since it launched in the U.S. last year, and cardmembers have redeemed offers for millions in dollars of savings,” Mr. Minor said.

“It was a natural choice to expand internationally,” he said.

American Express has been doing a lot in the mobile space and is constantly looking at new ways to engage its cardmembers.

Most recently, the company rolled out a mobile offers service that recommends and ranks relevant merchant deals based on a cardmember’s spending history and location.

Currently, the new service is being piloted via the new My Offers feature on the American Express iPhone app. During the pilot, consumers mostly in Los Angeles and New York will receive offers from merchants such as Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin’ Donuts (see story).

“We continue to be focused on delivering value to merchants and cardmembers where they are,” Mr. Minor said.

“Our cardmembers are heavy tech-users, digitally savvy, are very engaged in social media and are mobile device users,” he said. “Mobile is a huge growth area for American Express.”

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York