Chase Buys Bloomspot; Banks Continue Invasion of Deals Space

Another bank has telegraphed its strategy in the offers and loyalty space. JP Morgan Chase, the nation’s second largest bank after Bank of America, announced today that it had purchased Bloomspot.

The acquisition follows MasterCard’s recent purchase of TruAxis and BarclayCard’s purchase of Analog Analytics. Other banks have partnered with transaction marketing vendors, which include Cardlytics (Bank of America), Cartera and Edo Interactive.

Bloomspot is an interesting choice for Chase, which has previously done low key trials of deals in several markets with different vendors. Co-founded by ex-Yahoo Local execs Jasper Malcolmson, Frazier Miller and Ashish Baidua, the 100 person, San Francisco-based company had raised $46.1 Million, but apparently needed to make a deal – it has been cutting back on expenses in recent months.

What it brings to the table for Chase is a presence in 11 major markets, and a loyalty focus. Rather than directing its attention on building a giant consumer list a la Groupon and Living Social, it has instead worked with merchants to reach their best customers. It reports that 62 percent of its subscribers opt in to its loyalty program, and 92 percent spend above the deal value, compared to 59 percent for other deal sites.

Bloomspot has not, however, built a card -linked solution — which might be considered a strategic necessity for a major credit card vendor like Chase. This means that Chase may still be in the market to work with one of the key vendors (or build its own.)