Apple Card Users Can Earn 3 Pct. Cash Back For Nike Purchases

Nike is offering 3 percent cash back to Apple Card users when a Nike product is purchased using Apple Pay, TechCrunch reported Monday (Nov. 25).

The deal applies to all Nike products when purchases are made using the Apple Card through the Nike website, retail stores, Nike Training Club and more. Nike joins Uber/Uber Eats, Walgreens/Duane Reade, and T-Mobile stores in offering the top-tier cash back of 3 percent.

Nike and Apple have historically had a close relationship with retail partnerships and co-branded products like the Apple Watch Nike+ edition. Nike+ app membership benefits include complimentary months of Apple Music and other incentives.

When the Apple Card was first launched, only Apple purchases qualified for 3 percent cash back. Apple Pay transactions got 2 percent cash back. Using the physical card offered 1 percent back. The 3 percent incentive was expanded to other brands when the card rolled out to U.S. customers in August. The company anticipates more Apple Card partners will be added in the coming months.

Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the transaction volume on Apple Pay was moving ahead of rival PayPal and growing four times faster.

PayPal last week announced a deal to buy Honey for $4 billion in mostly cash. PayPal plans to use Honey to reach customers at an earlier stage.

Apple made headlines when it introduced the Apple Card, which Goldman Sachs said was the most successful card launch in history. The Apple Card runs over Mastercard rails, so it can be used everywhere Mastercard is accepted — including all of those physical points of sale that Apple Pay set out to disrupt five years ago.

Apple Pay went live on Oct. 20, 2014, and there are now more consumers with iPhones and Apple Pay wallets, and more stores that can enable an Apple Pay transaction.