In a marketing effort, 7-Eleven Mexico announces the launch of its own virtual currency dubbed "Big Coins." The company is looking to retain customers and build its online presence by rewarding engaged consumers.

‘Big Coins’

Earlier this week, local franchise 7-Eleven Mexico, unveiled its latest marketing initiative "Big Coins," a loyalty program that is taking the form of a "virtual social currency," according to a company's announcement.

Customers will be rewarded with the virtual currency "simply by logging into [the company's] social blog," reading, sharing or commenting on 7-Eleven's products pages and such.

The loyalty program was developed by Xoles Consultores, a web agency based in Monterrey that is familiar with cryptocurrencies and which accepts bitcoin as a payment method for services.

Manuel Alejandro Flores, partner at Xoles Consultores, is also the co-founder and CEO of Comunidad Bitcoin Monterrey, Spanish for "Monterrey's Bitcoin Community," a local organization that is looking to educate the public and promote the usage of bitcoin in the region.

Talking to local media outlet El Financiero, Flores said that 7-Eleven is looking to stimulate interactions with consumers through its mobile app and social website, social.7-eleven.com.mx.

Big Coins are stored in a digital wallet, and while they can only be used for dedicated products and promotions for now, 7-Eleven Mexico is looking to implement a virtual currency to its convenient stores, according to the media outlet.

Monterrey's Bitcoin Community is a collective of bitcoin enthusiasts with the mission of promoting bitcoin in the country. The community is the creator of Mexico's first bitcoin online store, TiendaB.mx, and is currently working through the relevant requirements to install the first bitcoin ATM in Monterrey.

7-Eleven and bitcoin

7-Eleven is an international chain of convenience stores that operated primarily as a franchise. 7-Eleven Inc. is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and is owned by Japanese Seven & I Holdings Co.

While the multinational has yet to express its stand on cryptocurrencies, local startups are putting effort into bringing bitcoin to convenience stores.

In September 2014, payment service Pademobile announced it has integrated Coinbase accounts, allowing some 3 millions of its customers to pay in bitcoin in every story that accepts the payment method - which includes 7-Eleven Mexico outlets.

In January, South Korean exchange startup Coinplug, said it was set to roll out a pre-paid bitcoin purchasing service to around 24,000 convenience stores across the country, with 8,000 7-Eleven stores already participating.

Similarly, Indonesia's leading bitcoin exchange Bitcoin Indonesia, has partnered with payment processor iPaymu in early September 2014, to enable residents to buy bitcoins at over 10,000 Indomaret outlets, the country's largest chain of franchised convenience stores.

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