Visa is now following the road Groupon has taken a long time ago with the launch of its new discounts app, dubbed Visa Mobile. The app primarily aimed for the iPhone holders but also available for Android offers users discounts from big-name retailers including JC Penney and Hertz, to name a few.

“Users enter their name, address, and credit card number, and they’ll be fed deals from participating merchants based on their shopping history. For deals at bricks-and-mortar retailers, Visa Mobile uses the iPhone’s Google Maps application to guide users to the nearest retail location where they can redeem the deal. The app can also display a map of nearby ATMs that accept Visa cards.”

The concept behind Visa Mobile is something the credit giant had highlighted in its apps early on, but expanding this trend’s footage is a highly branded way for the company to interact with customers while leveraging purchase for personalized marketing.

In addition to the mobile app sector, Visa is also concentrating its digital efforts in many other areas, including microloaning. As we covered here, it has joined forces with crowdfunding website Kiva to expand the site’s reach to the Gulf coast. Visa’s first contribution was a handsome $1 million.

Despite of its growing domain, Visa is not the only one who’s getting more involved with the online market. AMEX and Zynga recently announced a partnership aimed to offer customers the option to redeem limited edition virtual goods as well as physical and virtual game cards for Zynga’s most popular games, including foremost Farmville.

Going back to mobile, the junction of mobile payments and local search will be strengthened in light of Google’s recent activity around embeddable wireless-wallet mobile chips. This technology, dubbed Near-Field Communications or NFC will have direct implications beyond just financial transactions, capable of contributing to the Android mobile market as a whole.