Case Study: Fivestars achieves seamless card-linked loyalty and PCI de-scoping with Very Good Security

Fivestars - Customer Case Study

Fivestars, the commerce and loyalty network for over 14,000 local merchants and 60M+ members, needed to link consumer identities to payment cards so merchants could deliver seamless, payment-powered loyalty without slowing checkout. To avoid the time, cost, and risk of building their own card-data infrastructure—and to prevent lock‑in with a single processor—Fivestars partnered with Very Good Security (VGS) to provide data tokenization and a Zero Data compliance platform.

Very Good Security implemented its Zero Data/tokenization solution to intercept card PANs in real time, issue omnichannel tokens tied to loyalty accounts, and de-scope Fivestars from PCI compliance while preserving ownership of transaction data and processor optionality. The VGS-powered approach saved Fivestars nearly $1M versus building in‑house, accelerated time‑to‑market by at least six months, enabled rapid SMB onboarding and richer merchant analytics, and helped merchants using Fivestars personalized offers see customer return rates double after COVID‑19 reopening.

Fivestars

Matt Doka

Co-Founder and CTO