Overcoming the impression that American Express acceptance is rare among merchants, especially compared to Visa and MasterCard, the credit card company is in the middle of a five-year campaign to increase acceptance at merchants across the globe. From increased fraud protection to the business-friendly OptBlue program, Amex has invested heavily in building relationships with merchants around the world.

According to the most recent Nilson Report, a leading credit card industry resource, 99 percent of merchants who accept credit cards in the U.S. now accept Amex. Increasing merchant acceptance from 3.7 million in 2014 to 10.6 million U.S. merchant locations by the end of 2019, Amex welcomed more than 2.5 million new merchants during 2017 and 2018. American Express enjoyed an additional one million new U.S. locations last year alone. By comparison, Visa and Mastercard were accepted at 10.7 million locations in 2019.

Why is American Express acceptance increasing?

• Because American Express historically charged higher interchange fees, or “swipe fees,” than Visa and MasterCard charged, fewer merchants accepted Amex in the past. With the average cost rising during the past 10 years for merchants accepting Visa and MasterCard, the cost of Amex has decreased during that same period.
• Also according to a Nilson Report, Amex customers spend an average of $14,000 a year on their cards, more than three times what non-Amex customers spend. Not to mention, the average transaction size of an Amex customer is nearly two times larger than a non-card member’s. It behooves merchants to accept Amex to draw more valuable Amex customers into their stores and restaurants.
• Investing heavily in fraud prevention technology, as well as in programs like Shop Small and Small Business Saturday, Amex focuses on business-friendly initiatives and promotions.
• Amex’s OptBlue program works with businesses to find the best processing rate possible. Because Amex itself doesn’t set the merchant fees, the credit card company educates and assists merchants about the role of the credit card processor that sets the fees. Amex also offers OptBlue participants free marketing help, including physical signage, email alerts, and data driven advertisements, which identifies Amex customers most likely to shop at the merchant’s store.
• After Amex added 10 million new card members globally in 2017, businesses have that many more reasons to accept American Express. With robust rewards programs in everyday spending categories, including gas, groceries, dining, and travel, Amex credit cards offer personal, co-brand, small business, and corporate cards.

Host Merchant Services

If your business wants to explore accepting Amex cards, Host Merchant Services can help you make a decision regarding Amex or any other aspect of merchant service. We’ll explain everything to help you make an informed decision! We go out of our way to educate our customers so that they fully understand pricing for Amex, as well as our pricing model in general. Having this knowledge is important to ensure you aren’t overpaying. After we explain everything, the pricing will be so transparent that you’ll even know exactly what we make as a profit.

In the wake of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration that the COVID-19 outbreak was a pandemic, U.S. consumer reaction transitioned daily activities from the physical world toward a digital existence. Turning to solutions minimizing human touch, retail merchants quickly switched to touchless payments, and no matter the outcome of the pandemic, the post-pandemic market will certainly remain digital.

Pushing contactless payments into the mainstream, COVID-19 was the catalyst to carry retailers past previous barriers toward widespread adoption. In attempts to reduce the risk for in-store customers, essential businesses increased sanitization regimens, limited the number of customers in the store, marked the floors for social distancing, and eventually introduced contactless payments – although not all merchants are there yet.

Overcoming Barriers of the Past, Touchless Payments on the Rise

Both legacy point-of-sale systems and learning curves for customers and businesses alike served as barriers accounting for the slow rate of adopting contactless payments. For customers who are looking for a quick method to get in and out of the store without exchanging cash, touching a terminal, or touching anything besides their own phone, contactless payments are the solution.

While the increased curbside pickups eliminate the need for payment exchanges, contactless payments can offer the alternative to customers who want to shop in the store but still not touch anything. According to a survey by Paysafe, a payments provider, 63 percent of Americans say they are using contactless payments more than they ever have in the past. 44 percent even find mobile wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay are more secure than bank-issued contactless cards.

As video gaming, streaming, and e-tail are noticing an upswing in cashless transactions, according to Daniel Kornitzer, Paysafe’s chief business development officer, other merchants that rely more on in-person transactions, such as restaurants and hair salons haven’t experienced the same increase in digital payments yet. Restaurants like Burger King and Chick-Fil-A implemented contactless payments via apps.

Avoiding Cash & Point-of-Sale Terminals

Once criticized for discrimination against customers without bank accounts, fast casual restaurants like Sweetgreen and Cava quickly dropped their attempt to become cash-free restaurants. Now, consumers are avoiding cash with fears that the coronavirus can live on bills and coins. Avoiding the potential of transmitting germs at the point-of-sale systems is the driving force behind the 51 percent of U.S. consumers who said they were using some kind of contactless payment, according to a Mastercard survey.

Particularly expensive for smaller businesses, adopting new payment options such as contactless payments is cost prohibitive because they don’t enjoy the same rates as larger companies with higher volumes of transactions. It is to be determined whether government regulation or consumer demand makes touchless payments ubiquitous across merchant industries.

Host Merchant Services

During these turbulent economic times, depend on a stable and reliable payment processor to partner with your business to minimize the impact of worldwide instability. Payment processing should be the least of your concerns. Delivering personalized service and clarity, Host Merchant Services takes the time to explain your payment processing. Host Merchant Services even explains where our profit lies in the pricing structure to be fully transparent in all directions. Pricing fairness and transparency is our strategy in helping our customers find success with their businesses.

With a 15 percent market share of mobile devices, Apple/iOS possesses a massive potential for Apple Pay users. More than 50 percent of online purchases are estimated to be made from mobile devices since late-2014 when Apple Pay made its debut. Analysts estimate Apple Pay could account for 10 percent of all card transactions by 2025.

With dynamic encryption, Apple Pay is the most secure payment method available. TouchID, Apple’s fingerprint technology, and FaceID, facial recognition, provide additional protection. In response to an increasing reliance on contactless payments, payments made with Apple Pay are becoming ubiquitous. Emerging generations with cash flow are poised to place Apple Pay among the major players in the years to come.

Here are the Apple Pay trends for 2020:

• QR Code Scanning

Apple is working on allowing users to scan a QR Code or traditional barcode with the iPhone camera to make payments via Apple Pay. Users can also use the feature vice versa where they can hold the iPhone’s Wallet app-generated QR Code in front of a scanner.

• Near-Field Communication

Apple maintains its tight hold on near-field communication, or NFC, hardware, which enables contactless payment. European Union regulators have even contacted other payments industry companies regarding Apple’s possible anticompetitive behavior.

• Emerging Generations

Younger generations who grew up with cell phones prefer digital payments. 73 percent of polled millennials agree they will make all of their payments with a mobile phone eventually.

• OEM Pays Growing Percentage

Apple Pay is estimated to account for 52 percent of OEM Pays transaction values as compared to 43 percent in 2020. OEM Pays is the mobile payment application that enables users to add cards from multiple banks to the wallet application.

• Outpacing PayPal

A long-term competitive threat to PayPal, Apple Pay continues to enjoy growing support from retailers and inside applications. Not only is Apple Pay’s new user growth outpacing PayPal, but Apple Pay transaction volume is growing four times as fast as PayPal.

• Visa and Mastercard Partnership

For now, Apple still needs Visa and Mastercard, which are trusted and all-pervasive. Apple Pay could build up to becoming the equivalent to large card-issuing banks with which Visa and Mastercard traditionally partner. Unlikely to happen anytime soon, Apple may one day end up competing with Visa and Mastercard.

• iOS 14 Beta Release

With small changes across the system, the second iOS 14 developer beta was released in July 2020. Scheduled to be released to the public later in 2020, iOS 14 will feature new capabilities for Apple Pay, including the QR Code scanning capability.

Does your business accept Apple Pay? Host Merchant Services makes accepting Apple Pay simple no matter how you process – in person, online, or through mobile terminals or point of sale. Most of our solutions are Apple Pay and NFC enabled as a standard feature.

Already accepting Apple Pay? Looking for something different – try our cash discount program for zero-fee credit card processing!

Cash Discount Merchant Services

Host Merchant Services offers a cash discount program to its clients. Businesses can avoid backlash while embracing cash-paying customers by adopting cash discount merchant services. With this model, merchants can offset service fees while avoiding an increase in prices by enrolling such a program. Businesses can add a service fee to all transactions instead of adding a surcharge to credit purchases and then provide a discount to cash or check-paying customers.

…and Why Your Business Should Accept It!

Accepted across the country by 99 percent of merchants who accept credit cards, Discover is a lot more popular than people think. While some merchants may not display the Discover decal on their window or point-of-sale register, Discover does go by several decals, including Diners Club. Customers are encouraged to ask!

With a variety of options for competitive rewards programs, Discover offers miles or cash back, and even provides an alternative for consumers who are trying to build credit. At more than 800,000 ATM and bank branch locations across the U.S., card users can get cash with their Discover cards. And because Discover partners with retailers to deliver maximum rewards to card users, merchants can leverage the rewards programs to lure in new customers or existing customers who make regular purchases.

Your business should accept Discover to capture the customers who currently benefit from the following perks and rewards:

1. No Annual Fees

Discover credit cards never charge an annual fee – no matter the card type, no matter the rewards type.

2. Redeem Cash-Back Any Time for Any Amount

Discover doesn’t make you wait until you’ve accrued $100 in your cash-back account before you can cash in like some other cards do. At any amount, you can redeem your cash-back.

You can redeem your cash in a few ways:

• Cash – Deposit your cash-back into your bank account or apply the amount to your statement as a credit
• Gift Cards – Purchase gift cards with your cash-back rewards and receive $5 added for free. The gift cards start at $20
• Charity – Donate to charity with your cash-back rewards
• Amazon – Pay with your cash-back rewards when checking out at Amazon.com

3. Customer Service

Ranked “highest in overall customer satisfaction” by J.D. Power, Discover’s customer service representatives are based in the U.S.

4. First Year Cash-Back Match

Discover rewards cover a spectrum of cash-back benefits. At the first anniversary of opening a Discover account, Discover matches your cash-back rewards, doubling the amount for the first year.

5. Cash-Back for NHL Fans + Cash-Back for Students

For NHL fans, Discover not only offers your team’s logo on your card, but the credit card company also provides a 10% discount at NHL.com in addition to the traditional Discover rewards. And for students, Discover offers 5% cash-back on quarterly rotating categories, as well as a $20 statement credit each year the student’s GPA is 3.0 or higher.

Host Merchant Services

Host Merchant Services goes out of our way to educate our customers to ensure they fully understand Discover merchant fees, as well as our pricing model in general. Having this knowledge is important to ensure you aren’t overpaying. If your business wants to explore accepting Discover cards, HMS can help you make a decision regarding Discover or any other aspect of merchant service. We’ll explain everything to help you make an informed decision! After we explain everything, the pricing will be so transparent that you’ll even know exactly what we make as a profit.

…and Why Your Business Should Accept It!

Accepted across the country by 99 percent of merchants who accept credit cards, Discover is a lot more popular than people think. While some merchants may not display the Discover decal on their window or point-of-sale register, Discover does go by several decals, including Diners Club. Customers are encouraged to ask!

With a variety of options for competitive rewards programs, Discover offers miles or cash back, and even provides an alternative for consumers who are trying to build credit. At more than 800,000 ATM and bank branch locations across the U.S., card users can get cash with their Discover cards. And because Discover partners with retailers to deliver maximum rewards to card users, merchants can leverage the rewards programs to lure in new customers or existing customers who make regular purchases.

Your business should accept Discover to capture the customers who currently benefit from the following perks and rewards:

1. No Annual Fees

Discover credit cards never charge an annual fee – no matter the card type, no matter the rewards type.

2. Redeem Cash-Back Any Time for Any Amount

Discover doesn’t make you wait until you’ve accrued $100 in your cash-back account before you can cash in like some other cards do. At any amount, you can redeem your cash-back.

You can redeem your cash in a few ways:

• Cash – Deposit your cash-back into your bank account or apply the amount to your statement as a credit
• Gift Cards – Purchase gift cards with your cash-back rewards and receive $5 added for free. The gift cards start at $20
• Charity – Donate to charity with your cash-back rewards
• Amazon – Pay with your cash-back rewards when checking out at Amazon.com

3. Customer Service

Ranked “highest in overall customer satisfaction” by J.D. Power, Discover’s customer service representatives are based in the U.S.

4. First Year Cash-Back Match

Discover rewards cover a spectrum of cash-back benefits. At the first anniversary of opening a Discover account, Discover matches your cash-back rewards, doubling the amount for the first year.

5. Cash-Back for NHL Fans + Cash-Back for Students

For NHL fans, Discover not only offers your team’s logo on your card, but the credit card company also provides a 10% discount at NHL.com in addition to the traditional Discover rewards. And for students, Discover offers 5% cash-back on quarterly rotating categories, as well as a $20 statement credit each year the student’s GPA is 3.0 or higher.

Host Merchant Services

Host Merchant Services goes out of our way to educate our customers to ensure they fully understand Discover merchant fees, as well as our pricing model in general. Having this knowledge is important to ensure you aren’t overpaying. If your business wants to explore accepting Discover cards, HMS can help you make a decision regarding Discover or any other aspect of merchant service. We’ll explain everything to help you make an informed decision! After we explain everything, the pricing will be so transparent that you’ll even know exactly what we make as a profit.

The mobile and smart point of sale terminal, PAX A920 offers an all in one retailcloud solution. While it looks like a smartphone, the A920 combines the features of an Android tablet with all the bells and whistles of a robust POS terminal. With a stylish and compact design, the A920 offers mobility, high speed via 4G or Wi-Fi, secure payment, dual cameras, and a host of other benefits to merchants:

• Sleek & Modern-Looking

With a five-inch color touch screen and integrated TMS platform, the A920 terminal’s elegant design is simple and intuitive for users. Downloading software applications is easy, enabling businesses to customize the terminal to fit their needs. With an integrated printer and high speed barcode scanner, the terminal can also include an optional dock.

• Flexibility

Both portable and mobile, the A920 is the POS solution for merchants who are not tied to a location when completing transactions. Even without a Wi-Fi signal, the PAX A920 switches to a sim connection enabling merchants to use it via a cell phone provider. Its high capacity rechargeable battery allows for continuous operation all day.

• High-Speed

Using 4G and Wi-Fi, the PAX A920 terminal can connect to multiple networks, allowing for fast transaction speeds. Quickly transitioning between different services, the multipurpose terminal ensures efficient customer service.

• Secure Payment

Accepting all secure payment technologies, including EMV, MSR, and Tap and Pay, the A920 ensures security for your customers.

• Cloud-Based PAXSTORE

Working in unison with PAXSTORE, the A920 allows businesses to upload existing software onto the terminal. The cloud-based PAXSTORE provides a secure and safe operation. With customer engagement and cloud access, the A920’s retailcloud’s software lets you print detailed reports within the device, or you can access the reports through the cloud portal. The PAXSTORE supplies numerous marketing and analytics apps.

• Cash Discounts & Surcharges

As part of the retailcloud terminal software, merchants can add a surcharge or fee or provide a cash discount, all of which will show up on the receipt.

• Inventory Management

Automatically managing merchants’ inventory as they sell products, the A920 can track inventory for a single location or for multiple locations with retailcloud.

• Dual Cameras

For fast scanning and mobile and QR code payments, the A920 has dual cameras on both the front and rear of the terminal

• Thermal Printer

The fast thermal printer is built in to the terminal.

Host Merchant Services and PAX A920

Host Merchant Services can customize your A920 Point of Sale System to fit your business’s requirements. Whether your business needs to upload its existing software via PAXSTORE or you need to start from scratch with the A920, Host Merchant Services offers these solutions and everything in between. With a variety of PAXSTORE apps, the PAX A920 offers the flexibility your business wants, including inventory management and the ability to provide cash discounts. Offering complimentary express service, Host Merchant Services provides free quotes. Our payment specialists can provide A920 POS pricing that fits your business.

From smartphones with card readers to traditional point of sale (POS) terminals with near-field communications (NFC) capabilities, the future of payment technology is literally flying through the ether. Offering flexibility and versatility to businesses and customers alike, the trends that can benefit your business provide a win-win for everyone.

1. Near-Field Communication

While most credit card-enabled POS systems provide secure transactions via EMV chip card technology, now, many credit card terminals also offer NFC technology, allowing contactless payments through mobile wallets, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay from smartphones and even smartwatches. Sometimes customers forget their wallet, but they’ll never forget their phone.

2. Mobile Pont of Sale

With a growing percentage of cashless transactions, mobile POS systems allow businesses to accept credit cards via an internet connection and a mobile credit card processing service. From Square to PayPal, from Flagship to ROAMPay, businesses need only attach a card reader to a smartphone or tablets. Plus, mobile wallet providers such as Google Wallet, Visa Checkout, and Apple Pay enable customers to pay directly from their smartphones or by a scanner that reads barcodes or QR codes. The barrier to entry for POS for small businesses and new businesses is non-existent.

3. Customer Data

Retail POS systems prompt a sales associate to enter a customer’s demographic information, including a ZIP code, phone number, age range, and gender. And when a specific item is purchased, a POS system can be tweaked to only gather certain customer information. And even when the sales associate is not able to request specific information of the customer, the POS will still link the sale to the customer’s demographic information.

4. POS/CRM Solutions

Not just a credit card terminal, the latest POS systems offer invoicing, marketing email lists, and client records. Enabling businesses to run loyalty programs, POS/CRM systems integrate all aspects of running a business. With the ability to organize data, including names, billing and shipping addresses, emails, and order history, POS/CRM systems can also distribute the data to different departments, including sales, customer service, and technical support.

These are only a few of the top trends changing retail point of sale systems. Retailers should be on the lookout for these trends and more as they adjust to an ever-changing retail landscape.

Host Merchant Services

Host Merchant Services offers state-of-the-art POS systems personalized for your business. From retail to restaurants and everything in between, HMS provides businesses the tools they need to be successful. For payment processing, HMS can help your business accept all credit and debit cards with the lowest transaction rates on the market. When we demonstrate your payment processing scenario selections, HMS offers your business several point of sale options, including Clover, Vital, Bonsai, and more to fit your specific operation. If your business is already equipped with hardware, HMS provides an easy point of sale integration. We are able to retain customers with our low rates and excellent customer service – not our contracts. With 24 hour customer service, seven days a week and 365 days a year, we require no term commitment, and we charge no upfront fees or hidden fees. Nor do we charge application or setup fees. An industry leader, Host Merchant Services is always here for you.

On Tuesday, August 18^th, the Department of Commerce’s U.S. Census Bureau reported that retail eCommerce sales for the second quarter were up 37 percent from the first quarter of the year. And as measured year over year, eCommerce sales were up 44 percent while the total US retail sales were down 3.4 percent, to $1.1 trillion. The largest jump in dollars since 2001, Q2 eCommerce sales were $62 billion more than Q2 of last year, to $201 billion. And the 44 percent is also the largest percentage jump since 2001. And those percentages could be even higher. While this number includes sales in which the transaction takes place online, the Census Bureau only considers “Non-store Retailers” in their estimates, omitting companies engaged in electronic transactions. For example, storefronts that take payments online are not included in the number of eCommerce sales.

Pandemic Touches Every Industry

With American consumers newly interested in online grocery shopping, Albertsons Companies, which owns Albertsons and Safeway among other supermarket chains, reported that through June 20^th, online sales jumped by 276 percent. The pandemic pulled off what Safeway and Amazon couldn’t in 2019 when both companies tried offering online sales with minimal success. While global retail sales are down due to the pandemic, online purchases of clothing are up 76 percent. Sales of homemade goods like masks and home furnishing increased a whopping 146 percent on Etsy’s marketplace. Forecasted to continue growing, demand for communications equipment and cloud infrastructure may face challenges with factories’ stall in production.

And on the other end of the spectrum, U.S. digital travel sales are predicted to drop 44 percent in 2020 compared to mostly stagnant growth in previous years. And China is experiencing a more than 80 percent drop in sales of light vehicles as a result of the pandemic. In addition to health concerns, businesses across the globe continue to worry about the impact the pandemic will have on eCommerce. While not all industries can enjoy the boom in eCommerce growth, the industries that can leverage the increase can follow the path of businesses increasing online sales by more than 100 percent.

Host Merchant Services

During these turbulent economic times, depend on a stable and reliable payment processor to partner with your business in minimizing the impact of worldwide instability. Payment processing should be the least of your concerns. Delivering personalized service and clarity, Host Merchant Services takes the time to explain your payment processing. We want you to understand your monthly statement, and we will ensure that your statement matches our promises during our sales presentation. If you do have questions, you can reach a live representative any time, any day. HMS offers wonderful customer service, as well as great rates.

Host Merchant Services even explains where our profit lies in the pricing structure to be fully transparent in all directions. Pricing fairness and transparency is our strategy in helping our customers find success with their businesses.

Both banks and B2B FinTechs are integrating vendor payments and employee expense management into the mobilization and digitization of the corporate card. With contactless payments accelerating among retail customers, commercial card innovation is following suit with card payment capabilities across a variety of scenarios.

• Bank of America Expands Contactless Business Cards

First launching a mobile wallet solution for corporate customers in the U.S. and Canada in 2018, Bank of America is expanding mobile wallet capabilities for corporate clients across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Asia Pacific regions. With the speed, security, and efficiency of mobile, contactless payments, Bank of America allows it corporate travel and purchasing card customers to make payments with mobile wallets, including Apple Pay and Google Pay.

• NatWest Brings Apple Pay to Business Credit Cards

Providing a safer, more secure, and more private way to pay, NatWest brings Apple Pay to its business credit card customers. Allowing customers to avoid handing their credit card to someone else, touching physical buttons, or exchanging cash, the Apple Pay contactless payment is now available to NatWest’s business and commercial banking customer base.

• Emburse Enhances Virtual Card with Pre-Approval

Allowing employees to access a virtual or physical Expense Card, Emburse automatically enforces company spending policies with pre-approval capabilities. Upon use of the card, the employee is prompted to take a photo of the receipt to both record the transaction data and to integrate the data into its digital wallet for reporting and reconciliation.

• DayTek Capital Enabled to Issue Prepaid Card & Accept Deposits

Instrumental in enabling DayTek to issue its prepaid Infinity card, the Australian Financial Services License also allows the FinTech to accept deposits. The Infinity card is a solution for small and medium sized businesses, as well as retail customers. This is the beginning of an array of offerings, including an AI marketplace to facilitate interactions between customers.

With near-real-time assessment of credit risk, machine-learning models can leverage new data streams to allow suppliers to quickly assess the credit risk of new buyers asking for trade credit. Plus, suppliers can get paid in the same manner as their B2C counterparts. The trends on the horizon are a game-changer in the world of B2B.

Host Merchant Services

Host Merchant Services offers state-of-the-art POS systems personalized for your business. With B2B payment solutions, HMS provides businesses the tools they need to be successful. For payment processing, HMS can help your business accept all credit and debit cards with the lowest transaction rates on the market. When we demonstrate your payment processing scenario selections, HMS offers your business several point of sale options, including Clover, Vital, Bonsai, and more to fit your specific operation. If your business is already equipped with hardware, HMS provides an easy point of sale integration. We are able to retain customers with our low rates and excellent customer service – not our contracts. With 24 hour customer service, seven days a week and 365 days a year, we require no term commitment, and we charge no upfront fees or hidden fees. Nor do we charge application or setup fees. An industry leader, Host Merchant Services is always here for you.