How APIs and Merchandising Can Restore the Power of Brands

This EEA RRN YouTube Show explores how real-time API feeds to reward catalogs and effective merchandise selection can restore the once dominant roles of brands in incentive, recognition, and loyalty reward programs. One surprising finding all agreed upon: This 128-year-old field is nowhere close to achieving maturity when almost no one has every heard of it and there are less than 100 US incentive, reward, and recognition companies, compared with 25,000 marketing agencies and at least 10,000 CRM (customer relationship management) implementer. Watch and/or listen to the show here.

Background on the Role of Brands in IRR
A 128-Year-Old Industry Still in Its Early Stages
A Vast, Untapped Market
Technology Meets Psychology

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Insights from this recent EEA Brand Media Coalition YouTube Show, How APIs and Merchandising Can Restore the Power of Brands, reveals a powerful convergence of forces reshaping the incentive and recognition marketplace: the rise of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) enabling real-time retail experiences, the underutilized power of brand merchandising, and a largely untapped market with enormous growth potential. Together, these dynamics point to an industry that is far from mature—and one that could be on the verge of a significant transformation.

To enjoy the full flavor of this wide-ranging discussion on the industry, click here to watch or listen to the show.

Adrienne Forrest, Senior Vice President of Citizen Watch America; Heather Chevreau, Director of Corporate Sales for Citizen Watch America; Zach Fletcher of Power Sales, a leading master fulfillment company; and David Rosenstock, President of Incentive Source joined host Bruce Bolger, Enterprise Engagement Alliance Founder, discuss the power of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and merchandise but came to some surprising conclusions beyond the original topic.

The big practical lessons for any buyer or reseller of reward catalog technologies: does the vendor’s catalog support real-time two-way product feeds between the reward providers and the catalogs? This ensures that the redemption catalogs feature the latest products, pricing, descriptions, and when available, videos or other information. Early results suggest that APIs can significantly enhance brand redemptions, value for companies and recipients, and even better margins for the solution providers whose expertise supports these programs. The challenge, only about 25% of catalogs outside of the big five can support real-time APIs, precisely when the early data suggests brand redemptions rise significantly when there’s a real-time connection to retail feeds featuring the latest products, Black Friday and other specials now available to reward program participants.

The other surprising lesson from this show. This 128-year old industry is actually early stage because almost no one has ever heard of it, it is taught nowhere in schools, few companies apply serious design processes or impact metrics to its use, all at a time when employee and customer engagement hover near record lows.

Background on the Role of Brands in IRR

For decades, brands were the centerpiece of incentive, rewards, and recognition (IRR) programs. A premium brand product—a watch, apparel, or technology item—often called premiums, carried emotional impact, helping organizations communicate values, aspirations, and appreciation to employees, partners, and customers in a way they would remember for years with friends or family.

Over time, starting in the 2000s, the influence of brands diminished, ironically due to the Internet. Without the real-time connections offered by APIs, even online reward catalogs relied on slow, manual processes that made it difficult to feature current products, accurate pricing, or limited-time offers. As a result, many programs shifted toward simpler options such as gift cards—easy to deliver with transparent value, but often lacking the long-time emotional resonance and storytelling power of meaningful merchandise people enjoy for years.

The challenge today is no longer simply product availability, but how brands are curated to reinforce organizational values and deliver meaningful experiences. A new generation of technology may now be reversing that trend. Panelists from across the brand ecosystem discuss how APIs, fulfillment networks, and modern merchandising strategies could restore the role of brands in IRR programs.

Their discussion points to a fundamental shift: real-time connections between incentive platforms and suppliers can enable programs to feature current products, accurate pricing, and immediate availability—creating a redemption experience eqivalent to modern retail. According to Fletcher, nearly three-quarters of retail connections are API-powered, compared with only about a quarter of reward catalogs.

A 128-Year-Old Industry Still in Its Early Stages

Despite its long history, the IRR industry may still be in its early stages. With roots dating back to 1902 and the founding of Premium Practice, now Incentive since 1989, one might assume a mature, widely understood field. Yet the opposite appears true. While incentives and recognition are ubiquitous, the industry itself remains largely invisible. Few professionals receive formal education in its principles, even as research increasingly demonstrates the measurable impact of engagement on performance and long-term value creation.

On the rewards side, the gap is equally striking. Technology now enables state-of-the-art retail experiences within incentive platforms, yet much of the market has not taken advantage of it—leaving growth untapped for both reward providers and the brands that support them. At the center of this transformation is the increasing role of APIs. Fletcher describes APIs as “electronic bridges” connecting companies in real time, allowing distributors to access full product catalogs, live inventory, pricing updates, and rich media without manual intervention. While still requiring upfront investment of money and time, the process of creating API connections is much less costly or painful as in previous years and probably can easily justified by common net-present-value calculations to increased redemptions of higher margin rewards.

This capability fundamentally changes incentive merchandising. Instead of offering a few hundred pre-selected items, companies can now provide thousands—expanding from roughly 400 SKUs to 2,600 or even 4,000 in some cases—all available at current prices, including promotions. The implications extend far beyond convenience. Incentive platforms can now mirror retail environments, featuring product launches, reflecting real-time inventory, and aligning with promotional cycles such as Black Friday or other seasonal sales. As Fletcher notes, these connections “grease the skids” for the fastest updates, bringing incentive experiences closer than ever if not equivalent to consumer expectations. The early impact is clear: brand redemptions rise significantly when participants have a broad selection from which to choose and know that what they see is available immediately. How could they not remember from whom they received that and why?

Yet the panelists are equally clear that technology availability alone will not solve the problem. All agree that many incentive and recognition platforms still lack real-time APIs. While the best experiences are supported by full-scale APIs, everyone agrees the best place to start is with Replink, the industry’s data direct service created by industry visionary Jon Hanson, now deceased, and his wife Mary Hanson. At a low entry cost and minimal aggravation, it can help support a far more real-time experience than traditional CSV-file uploads. (It is used by the Brand Media Coalition's BMCShop to help educate organizations on why they should purchase corporate rewards through the corporate channel.)

Ironically, another skill lost with the demise of print catalogs is the merchandising expertise needed to use even online reward catalogs effectively. In the era of printed catalogs, extensive effort went into curating assortments, selecting imagery, and telling compelling brand stories. Today, APIs make it possible to offer virtually unlimited choice along with the unique ability to further engage people through meaningful product descriptions, images including videos, story telling, and interactivity.

Simply displaying thousands of items is not merchandising. The lesson is clear: while APIs enable scale, choice, more redemptions and reduce or even eliminate breakage (unredeemed points), merchandising creates meaning and tells a story.

Chevreau emphasizes that today’s participants—especially younger audiences but almost all ages today—expect a digital experience comparable to retail. That includes rich descriptions, multiple images, video, and even user validation through reviews.

These capabilities are now readily available through APIs, but only if organizations that manage catalogs choose to implement them. The opportunity is not just to replicate retail, but to exceed it—creating more engaging, personalized, and convenient experiences than traditional shopping.

Rosenstock underscores why this matters. When platforms fail to deliver compelling merchandise experiences featuring desirable, current products, organizations default to gift cards. While convenient, gift cards lack the lasting emotional impact of well-selected merchandise. Properly merchandised brands create connections that cash equivalents rarely achieve by becoming part of the recipient's life for years to come, such as with a time piece, grill, fishing rod, hand bag, etc. Another factor: retail gift cards do not provide the same value as many brands, which often are discounted significantly in the corporate market. Many IRR companies need to charge clients fees to manage gift cards above the retail prices recipients pay because there's no room for margins.

Over the past two decades, this shift has had significant consequences for brands and their involvement in the IRR market. Merchandise has lost share to gift cards, and many brands have reduced their presence in the incentive channel. Contributing factors include the rise of e-commerce giants, inconsistent brand protection, and the inability of many platforms to deliver a true retail experience. Ironically, the technology to reverse this trend is already available—but underutilized. Fletcher of Power Sales estimates that only 15–20% of his company’s business currently flows through API integrations, despite rapid growth.

This gap represents a substantial opportunity. As more organizations adopt real-time connectivity, they can improve participant experience while enhancing profitability through better merchandising, dynamic pricing, and expanded assortments, along with better controls. Fletcher believes the industry could experience significant growth and potentially greater support from brands were as many catalog firms in the IRR business capable of API connections as exists in the retail market.

A Vast, Untapped Market

Perhaps the most striking theme from the discussion is the scale of the opportunity. There are hundreds of thousands of organizations with large workforces, sales channels, and customer bases—each representing potential demand for effective engagement programs. Yet awareness of the IRR industry or of basic engagement design processes remains surprisingly low.

Even experienced professionals acknowledge that explaining the field to outsiders can be difficult, yet another a sign that the market has yet to fully mature. At the same time, demand for engagement is growing. Organizations increasingly recognize the importance of motivating employees, partners, and customers—but often rely on unstructured or poorly designed approaches.

Meanwhile, research continues to demonstrate that effective engagement strategies drive measurable outcomes, from productivity improvements to financial performance. This creates a unique moment.

Technology Meets Psychology

In this context, APIs and brand merchandising are not just operational tools—they are strategic enablers. APIs provide the infrastructure for scale, speed, and relevance. Progam design and merchandising delivers the emotional and psychological impact that drives behavior. Together, they allow incentive programs to evolve from static catalogs into dynamic, retail-quality engagement platforms.

The conclusion from Fletcher, Forrest, Chevreau, and Rosenstock is both simple and significant: the industry’s growth will depend in parts on its ability to combine these capabilities effectively. Organizations that invest in real-time connectivity, embrace brand storytelling, and curate meaningful experiences can gain competitive advantage while accessing a market that remains largely untapped, especially based on early redemption trends.

Far from being mature, the incentive and recognition industry may be entering its most important phase of evolution. The convergence of technology, behavioral science, program design and impact measurement is creating new possibilities for how organizations engage people. At the same time, rising expectations and competitive pressures are forcing a rethinking of traditional approaches.

The implication is clear: the future of IRR will not be defined by what companies offer, but by how effectively they design systems that connect technology, brands, and human motivation.

In that sense, the resurgence of brands is not just about merchandise and retail brands or total rewards. It is about restoring meaning, emotion, and measurable impact to how organizations engage the people who drive their success.

Enterprise Engagement Alliance Services

Celebrating our 17^th year, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance helps organizations enhance performance through:

1. Information and marketing opportunities on stakeholder management and total rewards:

ESM Weekly on stakeholder management since 2009. Click here to subscribe; click here for media kit.
RRN Weekly on total rewards since 1996. Click here to subscribe; click here for media kit.
EEA YouTube channel on enterprise engagement, human capital, and total rewards since 2020

2. Learning: Purpose Leadership and Stakeholder

Management Academy to enhance future equity value for your organization.

3. Books on implementation: Enterprise Engagement for CEOs and Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.

4. Advisory services and research: Strategic guidance, learning and certification on stakeholder management, measurement, metrics, and corporate sustainability reporting.

5. Permission-based targeted business development to identify and build relationships with the people most likely to buy.

Contact: Bruce Bolger at TheICEE.org; 914-591-7600, ext. 230.