Why Businesses Should Accept Discover Card

In a recent blog post, we explained why it’s a good idea for businesses to accept American Express cards. However, there are just as many reasons why merchants of all types and sizes, for that matter should also add Discover Card to the list of credit cards their customers can use to pay for the goods and/or services they offer.

Let’s start with the customer side. By most estimates, 78 percent of consumers who hold any rewards-based credit card including Discover Card use that card as their primary credit card. These customers are more apt to spend their money wherever that card is accepted and the lure of making the card a Discover Card is strong given the rewards available to cardmembers. Specifically, consumers, who carry the Discover it® Cash Back card receive five percent cash back for transactions completed with specific categories of merchants, up to a quarterly maximum. These categories change each quarter.

On top of that, Discover it® Cash Back cardholders earn one percent cash back on all other purchases throughout the year and Discover automatically matches all cash back earned by cardholders at the end of their first year of card membership. The card brand places no limits on the total of purchases matched.

What’s more, according to the Nielsen Report, Discover Card appeals to a younger cadre of consumers than other card brand consumers with hefty buying power. Taking this into consideration along with the potential to reap the benefits of attracting customers who might otherwise obtain goods and services somewhere else accepting Discover Card along with other card brands is sound business sense.

On the merchant side, it is true that Discover Card processing fees can be a bit steeper than those charged by other card networks, with interchange rates averaging about one percent higher than Mastercard and Visa. But consider the tradeoffs. For starters, there is an increased ability to cater to younger consumers who may not carry other credit cards. Then, there is the heightened potential to attract customers who would rather patronize businesses that allow them to reap the rewards offered via the Discover Card and potentially, buy more with it instead of spending their money elsewhere. The boon to the bottom line that comes with cultivating these customers and ensuring their loyalty may more than compensate for the outlay in fees.

Additionally, Discover Card has, in recent years, made it easier for merchants to be set up to accept Discover Card and to manage the details of Discover Card acceptance going forward. According to Discover, the same process can often be used to simultaneously set up merchant services for Discover Card, Mastercard, and Visa. There is no extra paperwork. This along with the integration of billing and processing with that of other card brands means merchants can receive transaction information for all three brands in a single, unified statement.

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