Why Accepting American Express is Well Worth Your Time

Not every customer has an American Express® card, so why bother accepting them? Most people have alternate methods of payment anyway—what’s the point?

Well for one, American Express is undergoing some serious changes making it much easier for businesses to accept AMEX. Under a new program, merchants will be able to accept American Express in the same way they accept all other major card brands. Until now AMEX acted as a separate network and merchants would receive separate statements. This program allows for streamlined payment acceptance that can result in reduced costs for qualified merchants.

Giving your customers flexibility in regards to their payment method is always a good thing. Plus, when you accept American Express, you open yourself up to accepting over 150 card products. Sure, customers can always use a different card or pay with cash, but allowing the customer’s preferred method goes a long way. In fact, it can be a huge deciding factor and incentive to get customers in the door—and if you take American Express, they’re more likely to come back. American Express cardholders are unique in a few ways that make them great customers. The great thing about American Express cards are the reward programs and benefits it offers, so cardholders generally want to use their AMEX card as often as they can.

Small businesses in particular can benefit from American Express acceptance. Programs like Shop Small and Small Business Saturday help to encourage individuals to patronize independent businesses in their neighborhood. The goal is to keep the money shoppers spend in their own community to support local business.

Shop Small on Small Business Saturday

Since 2010, American Express has been putting small businesses on the map with an annual shopping day following Black Friday. It gives shoppers who want to support their community and local businesses an easy way for them to find one another. Participating businesses are listed on the Shop Small online map that customers can use to plan their day of small business support.

The businesses that partner with Shop Small are showered with free personalized marketing materials including banner ads, printable signage, social media and email templates, and more. They go by a “what you’re known for” theme, and any small business can apply to be a partner—even if you don’t accept American Express. Yep, you can be a Shop Mall partner without taking AMEX. However those who take AMEX may be eligible for additional benefits.

The bottom line

American Express has taken the last few years to really cater to smaller businesses and incentivize their acceptance methods—and it’s working. They’ve shown that they realize the value of small businesses and have done an excellent job of developing programs to empower shops, even if they don’t accept American Express. Now it will be much easier and more cost effective for businesses who thought AMEX acceptance wasn’t an option to expand their payment card acceptance, and ultimately, their customer base.

Interested in accepting American Express? Have questions about Small Business Saturday? Drop us a line and we’ll be in touch.