Who Needs to Accept American Express?
American express is the 3rd most widely used credit card in the US. Depending on who your customers are, not accepting American Express may be a very poor business decision.
A typical retail business’s credit card acceptance percentages will look something like:
Visa – 60%
MasterCard – 25%
American Express – 10%
Discover – 5%
10% for Amex is not a huge number, especially considering that the majority of Amex users also have a Visa or MasterCard. Amex is more expensive than Visa and MasterCard, and businesses often choose not to accept it.
When we look at businesses that sell in areas where there are a lot of business professionals, or they cater to other businesses (B2B), we see Amex percentage go up drastically. Amex has a very strong business card program that many businesses use. Something as simple as having a location near a major business center, can have a huge increase on the amount of people that want to pay with American Express.
For a moderately B2B company, the credit card usage looks more like:
Visa: 45%
MasterCard: 25%
American Express: 25%
Discover: 5%
True B2B companies will see a very large increase in Amex sales, and these can be as high as 50% or more.
Even though your customers may have a Visa or MasterCard, you may lose them as a customer if you don’t accept Amex. Businesses that take their clients out want to pay with their business card. The same thing goes for purchasing office supplies, equipment, computers, paper, food, or anything else that could be considered a business related expense. If you don’t take Amex, the people wanting to use their Amex business card will find someone else who does.
Turning down sales because they cost a little bit more, doesn’t save money because those people are no longer spending money with you.
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