The only thing merchants value more than new business is repeat business.

But in an age in which online sales are taking business away from brick-and-mortar retailers, getting customers to come back frequently is an even greater challenge.

Andrew Petrovics, founder and CEO of Koyote, believes he has an answer.

His company has developed Pointz, a system in which merchants track the number of times a customer with the Pointz app visits the store and how much time they spend there. After earning enough points, the merchant can reward the customer with discounts or free merchandise.

Koyote is part of Birmingham’s Velocity Accelerator inaugural class from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

It’s an idea that earned Koyote a spot in the inaugural Velocity Accelerator class at Birmingham’s Innovation Depot.

Velocity Accelerator is a 12-week program designed to give a select group of startups focused mentorship and guidance to speed their growth. The inaugural class of 10 companies was announced in December and started in January with $50,000 in seed capital. The program concludes with Demo Day on April 18.

Koyote has been testing Pointz at Good People Brewing Company, Wine Loft, Saturn and Railroad Park in Birmingham and is ready to go live and start allowing customers to accumulate points at those locations.

Petrovics said the plan is to roll out Pointz at other restaurants, bars and entertainment venues to help build the user base and then focus on getting into retailers.