Give consumers more ways to discover relevant discounts, and usage of those deals should rise.

That’s the underlying aim of today’s news of card-linked offer provider Cartera Commerce uniting with shopping browser app provider Billeo Inc. In other words, their partnership has opened up a new way for banks and card issuers to market discounts to their consumers: While they are shopping and surfing online.

The main idea behind the partnership is to drive “new ways to do compelling offers,” Marc Caltabiano, VP of Products & Marketing, tells Bank Innovation.

This is how the offering works: a consumer installs a browser app from a participating bank or issuer so that while he surfs online for goods, card-linked offers will appear in his search results and on retailers’ sites.To redeem online offers, shoppers click the offer and make the purchase from the retailer’s web site, while in-store offers are redeemed by  swiping a registered credit card in the retailer’s store. The idea is to drive the consumer to make more purchases to generate more money for both the bank and retailer as well as cultivate stronger consumer loyalty. Practically speaking, say a shopper is searching for TVs on Google. He could receive an offer from his bank on his browser to earn cash back for every $100 spent on electronics online. 

“It closes the loop,” says Caltabiano. Beyond expanding the ways in which discounts are offered to consumers, the service also helps to bridge the offline and online world together. Though nothing technically limits what device consumers can use for browser-related discounts, Caltabiano says the service will most likely benefit consumers using their computers and tablets, as those are the devices most commonly used for browsing.

The new service is available today on a limited basis. Users are not yet disclosed.

Below is a screen shot of the new service: