Collaboration between Card Issuers and Merchants: A Strategic Imperative

Apr 1, 2024

In the digital age, the online credit/debit card ecosystem plays a vital role in global eCommerce. Collaboration between card issuers and merchants is not just beneficial; it’s essential for optimizing payment processes and enhancing customer experiences. This blog explores the dynamics of these partnerships, their benefits, and real-world examples of success.

How do card issuers interact with merchants?

Card issuers and merchants must work together through a networked system to facilitate secure and efficient transactions. This system involves payment networks like Visa and Mastercard, which handle the authorization and settlement of transactions. The process starts when a customer uses a credit/debit card for a purchase; the merchant’s terminal sends the transaction details to the payment processor, which then routes it to the respective card network. The network verifies the transaction with the issuer, ensuring funds are available and the transaction is valid, then sends approval back through the chain, completing the transaction.

Strategies for successful collaboration

To foster successful collaboration, card issuers and merchants can adopt various strategies that bolster both operational efficiency and customer engagement. These strategies include:

Technology integration: Develop and integrate advanced payment technologies like NFC for contactless payments and secure mobile wallets, ensuring fast and secure transactions. For example, Starbucks invested $25 million in Square and began using its Pay with Square service in its 7,000 stores, significantly expanding Square’s scale and lowering Starbucks’ payment processing costs. This partnership also allowed customers to pay using the Pay with Square app, demonstrating how integrating innovative payment solutions can enhance customer convenience and operational efficiency

Co-branded cards and rewards programs: Launch co-branded cards offering rewards and incentives, encouraging customers to prefer these cards and boosting spending. For example, Amazon and Chase offer a co-branded credit card that provides customers with rewards for purchases made on Amazon, incentivizing frequent use and increasing customer loyalty.

Data sharing and analysis: Share and analyze consumer spending data to gain insights into customer behavior, allowing for more effective marketing strategies and product offerings. For example, Uber and American Express share real time transaction data to offer targeted discounts, like bonus points for spending on Uber rides, enhancing value for customers and driving usage.

Joint marketing initiatives: Coordinate marketing campaigns between card issuers and merchants to promote card usage and special offers, increasing customer engagement and loyalty. A notable example of joint marketing initiatives between  card issuers and merchants is the collaboration between airlines and card issuers, like the co-brand agreements with United, Southwest, JetBlue, Delta, and American Airlines. These partnerships are highly valued due to the affluent customer base and high card spend, leading to lucrative financial incentives and favorable partnership structures for the involved merchants​.

Benefits of collaboration

There are mutual advantages for merchants and card issuers in forging strong partnerships.

 

For Merchants:	For Card Issuers:
Increased sales through broader payment options	Expanded network of merchant partnerships increases card usage
Reduced NSF declines	Fee revenue from more merchant transactions
Enhanced customer experience and convenience	Opportunity to stay top-of-wallet
Access to consumer spending data for targeted marketing	Enhanced customer satisfaction and retention
Reduced fraud risk through advanced security features provided by issuers

 

Embrace the collaboration concept with Kipp

Consider the example of Kipp, a fintech company that understands that consumers expect their card purchases to be approved when they are making an online purchase. If a transaction is declined, everyone loses – consumer, card issuer, and merchant. Kipp’s platform is a simple, straightforward solution that leverages the aligned interests of issuers and merchants to authorize more legitimate transactions. Kipp’s core solution relies heavily on real time transaction data enrichment and risk management to help merchants pay a premium to incentivize issuers to approve more transactions.