Marcus by Goldman Sachs announced that it is partnering with General Motors to launch a new co-branded credit card and rewards program. This is its second major retail partnership after issuing the Apple Card in 2019.
GM was one of the first retailers to introduce branded credit cards in the United States, with its first such launch nearly three decades ago. The company is now going digital by partnering with Marcus by Goldman Sachs and Mastercard to launch its new rewards card and loyalty program.
Customers can apply online and use their card immediately upon approval, as the card is available through the GM app and can be added to digital wallets. The card is also integrated into the My GM Rewards loyalty program, launched in 2018 with more than 6 million customers.
The rewards program allows cardholders to redeem points towards the purchase of a new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac vehicle, or GM services at the dealership. As for benefits, these include 7x points for every dollar spent at GM and 4x points for other purchases. Each point is worth a penny when redeemed.
The existing GM card has over 3 million cardholders who will automatically transfer to Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs bought GM’s credit card portfolio for $2.5 billion in 2020 from Capital One, beating rival Barclays. It was his second win over the UK lender after it scrapped its rewards program with Apple before the Marcus Apple Card partnership.
The two banks would have pioneered the idea of turning cars into e-commerce portals, an idea the automaker has embraced as the first major automaker to allow drivers to order products and services from car dashboard screens. ‘a car.
GM intends to integrate its car e-commerce capabilities into the rewards program. Allowing customers to earn and redeem points wherever they are is “crucially important” to GM, according to Julie Heisel, director of retail innovation at General Motors.
“With the launch of this new program, more than 20 integrations are already in place, such as eCommerce and Shop, Click & Drive. Integration with headunit apps will happen by the end of 2022, as we want this to be as seamless as possible,” she said on a media call.
And for the future, GM wants to continue to develop its financial services for consumers.
“Today we have some integrations with our captive finance company, GM Financial. As we continue to develop more products and services with Marcus by Goldman Sachs, each of these experiences will be integrated into My GM Rewards and the My GM Rewards card,” Heisel said.
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Such partnerships between banks and retailers aim to help lenders expand their customer base, while providing retailers with customer retention through various loyalty programs. Marcus also works with Walmart to offer small business loans to online sellers and has partnered with JetBlue on an installment loan product to help customers finance their travels.
Marcus by Goldman Sachs was launched in 2016 as a consumer banking company, offering consumers and small businesses different ways to finance their purchases, both directly and also by integrating its lending capabilities with other platforms.
It started with the acquisition of the U.S. online deposit platform from GE Capital Bank and added Clarity Money’s personal finance and customer management capability in 2018.
In 2019, Marcus announced one of fintech’s biggest partnerships when he worked with Apple to introduce a consumer credit card, the Apple Card. More recently, it purchased BNPL provider GreenSky, giving Marcus not only its flexible payment option, but also direct access to its customer base of 10,000 home improvement merchants.
