Lula Direct Adds Loyalty Integrations From Paytronix, PDI, PAR

Lula Commerce has connected its first-party ordering platform, Lula Direct, to major convenience store loyalty and point-of-sale providers including Paytronix, Velocity, Patron Points, PDI and PAR, the digital commerce vendor announced this week.

The integrations let c-store guests earn and redeem rewards online the same way they do in-store, according to the announcement. Customers can stack points, claim free items and earn tier upgrades across digital and physical touchpoints. They can use their existing login credentials to place orders and access rewards, and new loyalty members can enroll in a retailer's loyalty program directly through the ordering app, Lula said.

Lula frames the update as a way to give retailers another tool to drive customer engagement with their digital ordering options. It also gives retailers more control over the customer relationship while creating more opportunities to leverage first-party data and retail media, according to the announcement.

"The future of convenience retail lies in meeting customers exactly where they are with a single, connected experience," said Adit Gupta, co-founder and CEO of Lula Commerce, in the announcement. "By natively integrating major loyalty networks directly into Lula Direct, we are empowering retailers to fully activate their existing rewards programs online."

The loyalty rollout comes less than a month after Lula shipped several other new features in Lula Direct, including improved product discoverability, more flexible payment options, updated age verification, the addition of tobacco ordering and more granular fee customization.

For convenience retailers already invested in loyalty programs from providers like Paytronix or PDI, the integrations remove a key barrier to moving those programs online. As first-party data and retail media become central to c-store marketing strategies, connecting ordering and rewards in one platform positions retailers to capture and monetize customer data they previously could only gather at the register.