General Motors is unveiling a new addition to its OnStar system, the ability for subscribers to browse deals on its AtYourService app and redeem them in Sionic Mobile’s ION Rewards app.

The new feature will be available on all of GM’s mobile apps and lets users make browse deals from a variety of retailers and restaurants through their phones. The payment system will be powered by Sionic Mobile.

“The ION Rewards Merchant Marketplace represents an expansion of the AtYourService Offers and Connections feature now available in all four GM-branded mobile apps,” said Ronald Herman, CEO of Sionic. “We worked closely with the OnStar team to ensure exclusive savings for AtYourService consumers within our 100,000+ location marketplace and added the convenience of secure mobile payments through our relationship with J.P. Morgan Chase.

“I believe this represents the first phase of a very exciting connected car and digital garage experience for AtYourService consumers.”

Literally mobile payments
Sionic’s Merchant Marketplace, a collection of more than 100,000 retail and restaurant locations, will now be completely available to all OnStar subscribers as part of the existing AtYourService marketplace, GM’s own collection of retail and restaurant locations.

The integration of Sionic’s Merchant Marketplace expands GM’s existing collection of partnering retailers, making the selection available to OnStar subscribers that much bigger.

To capitalize on the larger marketplace, GM is letting users browse deals on their OnStart AtYourService app and redeem them through Sionic’s ION Rewards platform.

The marketplace will be available through myChevrolet, myBuick, myGMC and myCadillac. Users can now see nearby merchants, browse their inventory and redeem the rewards and deals through ION Rewards.

Once the transaction has been made through ION Rewards, OnStar users can earn reward points that can be redeemed for other deals and promotions at the respective retailers.

Connected cars
Tim Mahoney, global CMO of GM, spoke at this year’s MMA 2016 SM2 Innovation Summit about GM’s mobile philosophy. Mr. Mahoney spoke about the company’s goal of making its cars the most connected vehicles on the marketplace (see story).

Connecting its AtYourService app to a larger marketplace is the latest step in GM’s plan to make that goal a reality.

Though Sionic and GM partnered to bring their two marketplace functionalities together, the two chose to keep their platforms mostly separate in order to make for a smoother user experience.

“Early on, we agreed the best approach to enhancing the AtYourService feature was to follow existing OnStar policies and procedures by linking the AtYourService Offers with our own, OnStar-exclusive ION Rewards Merchant Marketplace,” Mr. Herman said. “As such, the payment and rewards function operate external to AtYourService and integration efforts were minimal.

“I credit Mark Lloyd and Rick Ruskin at OnStar for having the vision and business acumen to recognize the value Sionic Mobile brings AtYourService and for creating an operating environment more representative of a fast-paced, Silicon Valley tech company than what one might expect from a company the size of General Motors and OnStar.”

Sionic hopes that the integrated service will open up mobile transactions to a wider variety of customers.

“Paying with the OnStar AtYourService edition of the ION Rewards app presents a compelling proposition for consumers. Unlike Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and others, consumers may pay with the ION Rewards app using almost any iOS or Android device and any bank-issued credit or debit card. Our mutual goal from the beginning was to create and maintain a frictionless process for consumers while giving real, meaningful incentives to pay with the app.”