With financial services companies taking an increasing liking to the discount innovation scene, Bank Innovation sought out a player that has already been exploring new ways to express its affection for the niche: Visa Inc.

Indeed, months ago Visa debuted a location-based service that relies on the card company’s treasure trove of real-time transactional payment data to help drive consumers into partnering retailers’ doors. The service works by allowing retailers to team up with Visa to send real-time discount emails and/or text offers to consumers transacting on their Visa cards, who have also opted into receiving the service.

“We want to improve marketing programs and enable retailers to target consumers when they are out and about,” Leigh Amaro, senior business leader for global information products, tells Bank Innovation. The underlying business logic of the program? Consumers are more likely to redeem coupons when they’re already making purchases.

The Gap Inc. has officially been one of Visa’s partners since spring. Known as Gap Mobile 4U, the partnership allows the apparel retailer to benefit from Visa’s platform that analyzes transactions in real time by alerting transacting customers to discounted apparel when they are near physical Gap locations. Perhaps a consumer buys a coffee with his Visa card near a Gap. If he has opted into the program, his phone — smartphone or not — will receive a text for 40% off jeans at the Gap within the next three hours, for example.

So far, Amaro says the results have been “positive,” but would not provide specific performance data.

“It’s returned a high success rate,” she says. “We will see continued success as we learn from it.”

Those lessons will include data points, such as what are the best proximity ranges and/or the best time of day to send discount messages to customers. Plus, Visa tells Bank Innovation that its eyes are now set on incorporating social opportunities into the service.

“Our key initiative is getting social,” Amaro tells Bank Innovation. “We are working with retail partners for robust social channels. …You’ll see some interesting stuff soon.”

Though specifics aren’t yet disclosed, other card companies have displayed interesting innovation within payments and social media. American Express announced a big splash into the social payment space recently.

Ultimately, getting the Visa service to gain mainstream-status means proving the ROI to merchants.

“A merchant needs confidence in the measure of the success of the program,” Amaro says.

Like everything else within financial technology, getting consumers to use the service is also key — but that responsibility heavily lies with merchants’ marketing efforts.

“They are in control of the enrollment strategies they want to deploy,” says Amaro, adding that social channels — such as those used by The Gap — appear to enhance customer engagement.

Rather than viewing daily deal companies like Groupon and online banking statement coupons as competition, Amaro believes that all three areas of the market complement one another. “What we really offer here is more of a triggered event,” she says. “It’s more of a surprise and a delight element. Because of the authorization, it’s a complimentary channel to the first two.”

For Visa, the service is just the beginning of its exploration into the discount offers scene.

“We really see [targeted coupons] as part of a larger strategy,” says Amaro.