Can APIs Restore the Power of Brands in the IRR Business?
For decades, merchandise was central to incentive, rewards, and recognition (IRR) programs, but starting in the 2000s paper-based, mailed catalog systems restricted the use of brands as it became impossible to offer the latest and greatest. This in turn led to the rise of gift cards such that today only a few brands remain actively engaged in the IRR business. Ironically, the popularity of brands and the real-time possibilities of API (real-time electronic connections) can help brands more easily tap the corporate market and for solution providers and their customers once again to effectively benefit from the story-telling power of brands. The Hottest Products and Best Pricing Now Available on Demand
Direct Connections Have Become Easier Than Ever
Here’s how rise of APIs may be bringing merchandise—and brands—back into the spotlight in the incentive, rewards, and recognition market.
Dave Roberts, CEO of Power Sales, a major master fulfillment company based on Kansas City, highlights the change: “APIs have restored the power of brands in incentive programs. We can now offer real-time access to the hottest items at the best prices, creating timely and personalized experiences. If something is hot for the holidays, we can now make it available real-time. If there’s special pricing, it can be offered almost with a flip of a switch.”
Scott Kooken, CEO of Links Unlimited, in an RRN article last year, points out that APIs make it possible to provide a retail experience for program participants in terms of both product availability and pricing. APIs don’t just improve catalog efficiency—they’re enabling IRR providers to deliver a truly consumer-grade redemption experience, restoring the power of brands in driving engagement. In the age of personalization, real-time brand access may be the ultimate differentiator, Kooken says.
The challenge, he says, is that there remain incentive, recognition, loyalty and gifting companies without the ability to accept real-time feeds.
This shift couldn’t come at a better time for brands. Recent research from CarltonOne, a leading provider of international reward catalogs with access to real-time feeds, shows merchandise making a comeback. “Direct APIs to more brands may explain why,” Roberts notes. “When participants can find exactly what they want, in real time, merchandise becomes meaningful again.”
The Hottest Products and Best Pricing Now Available on Demand
From the standpoint of brands, the ability to offer the latest items at redemption time is critical. Explains Ryan DeGrand, co-owner of Pro Am Golf in St. Louis, “For instance, this last holiday season, we were able to offer our clients the latest zero-torque putters for their catalogs. That would never have been possible in the past. Similarly, Ree Politte, Principal of St. Louis-based Luxury Name Brands, notes that she was able to help fourth quarter clients get access to the latest popular Stetson and Filson western wear lines for their catalogs.
"For years, incentive programs relied on gift cards due to limited traditional reward catalogs,” observes Jason Etter, Vice President, Growth, for Online Rewards, Richardson, TX. “We've spent 24 or more years developing a seamless, plug-and-play API that provides a real-time, globally integrated reward catalog, eliminating the need for organizations to build their own. Our system features continuously refreshed merchandise feeds supporting over 120 countries, enabling brands to offer more compelling, localized rewards. Partners can now offer fresh merchandise instead of retail-priced gift cards, providing resellers better economics and their clients and recipients greater perceived value.”
While consumer websites offer instant access to the latest products, and multiple services can support real-time feeds, many IRR firms still lack APIs—leading to outdated catalogs. “When participants can’t find the latest items, they default to gift cards,” Kooken notes. “But receiving a specific brand item creates a much more lasting memory, especially if it’s the one they want precisely when they want it.”
Direct Connections Have Become Easier Than Ever
Today, companies like Replink/Data Direct are making it easier than ever for brands to serve the incentive, recognition, and loyalty market with real-time feeds.
The result for end-user corporations and their solution providers—lower costs for end-clients and better margins for the solution providers that support them. The most popular gift cards provide almost no discounts or margins, meaning recipients pay retail prices, whereas in most categories corporations and their solution providers can access brands at below retail.
APIs don’t just improve catalog efficiency—they’re enabling IRR providers to deliver a truly consumer-grade redemption experience, restoring the power of brands in driving engagement. In the age of personalization, real-time brand access may be the ultimate differentiator, Kooken says.
Now it’s time for the incentive, recognition, and reward companies to keep up.
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