Table of Contents
Scope and Themes
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- What you need to know
- Scope of this report
- Consumer research methodology
- Abbreviations and terms
- Abbreviations
- Terms
Executive Summary
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- Market size and trends
- Small businesses are a large and growing sector of the U.S. economy
- The small business market is not monolithic
- Small business credit card use is growing
- Small business cards are an attractive target for credit and debit card issuers
- Debit card use has risen spectacularly among U.S. consumers, but businesses have been slower to adopt debit cards
- Major competitors
- Change in focus for advertising and promotion
- Small business payment methods
- Debit card use
Insights and Opportunities
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- Increased penetration of credit and debit cards is key to sustaining and even increasing growth in the small business card market
- Beyond increasing card acquisition, card issuers can stimulate greater business card usage in several ways
- Competition among card issuers for a larger share of the small business pie is likely to become fiercer
Fast Forward Trends
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- Trend: Addressing Credit
- Trend: Complication means trusting the choice editor
- Trend: Benefits of Transparency
The Market Size
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- Figure 1: Employment size of employer and non-employer firms in U.S., 2004
- Figure 2: Growth in number of firms, by employee size in U.S., 2002 and 2004
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Demographic Trends in the Small Business Market
Small Business Card Usage Increasing
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- Figure 3: Small business credit card spending, 2002-09
- Usage increasing for the smallest businesses
- Reasons for growth—now and later
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Economic Outlook and Small Business Credit Availability
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- Level of optimism and credit trends
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- Figure 4: Small business optimism and credit trends, 2003-08
- Payment trends
- Debit rewards and decoupled debit
- Changing purchase categories
- Fraud protection and payment acceptance
Competitive Context
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- Competition is increasing
- Acquisition mailings
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- Figure 5: Business card direct mail acquisition offers—share of direct mail pieces and campaigns, Q4 2007
- American Express
- Overview
- Products
- Major card features
- Specific offerings
- Chase
- Overview
- Products
- Major card features
- Specific offerings
- Capital One
- Overview
- Products
- Major card features
- Specific offerings
- Citi
- Overview
- Products
- Major card features
- Discover
- Overview
- Products
- Major card features
- Specific offerings
- Bank of America/FIA
- Overview
- Products
- Major card features
- Advanta
- Overview
- Products
- Major card features
- WaMu
- Overview
- Products
- Major card features
- Wells Fargo
- Overview
- Products
- Major card features
Advertising and Promotion
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- American Express
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- Figure 6: American Express Gold Card
- Figure 7: American Express Plum Card
- MasterCard
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- Figure 8: Mastercard Ad
- Visa
- Discover
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- Figure 9: Discover Ad
- Capital One
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- Figure 10: Capital One Ad
The Small Business Consumer
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- Small business payment usage
- Payment methods used by annual revenue
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- Figure 11: Small business payment methods for business expenses, by annual revenue, March 2008
- Payment methods used by home-based vs. non-home-based business
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- Figure 12: Small business payment methods for business expenses, by home-based versus non-home-based business, March 2008
- Payment methods used by type of purchase
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- Figure 13: Primary small business payment methods for categories of business expenses, March 2008
Small Business Consumer – Primary Debit or Credit Card Type
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- Primary card type used by number of employees
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- Figure 14: Primary card used, by number of employees, March 2008
- Primary card used by annual revenue
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- Figure 15: Primary card used, by annual revenue, March 2008
The Characteristics of Small Business Owners
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- Demographic profile of small business owners by primary card used
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- Figure 16: Demographic profile of small business owners, by primary card used, by gender, age, race/ethnicity and education, March 2008
- Card used by number of employees
- Primary card used by other characteristics
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- Figure 18: Company profile of small business owners, by primary card used, March 2008
- Primary card used by type of business
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- Figure 19: Types of small businesses, by primary card used, March 2008
Small Businesses – Employee Use of Business Cards
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- Figure 20: Share of small businesses that authorize employeees to use credit or debit cards, March 2008
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Small Businesses – Reasons for Primary Card Choice
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- Figure 21: Reasons for using primary card, by primary card used, march 2008
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Small Businesses – Factors in New Card Acquisition
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- Figure 22: Ranking of inffluencers in credit card acquisition, March 2008
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- Figure 23: Most important consideration, by annual company revenue, March 2008
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Small Businesses and Debit Cards
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- Use of debit cards for business expenses
- Receipt and activation of debit card when opening a primary business checking account
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- Figure 25: Receipt of debit card when opened primary business checking account, by annual company revenue, March 2008
- Figure 26: Activation of debit card when opened primary business checking account, March 2008
Profile of Debit Card Users
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- Figure 27: Demographic profile of debit card users and non-users, by gender, age, race/ethnicity and education, March 2008
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- Figure 28: Company profile of debit card users and non-users, by business location, annual revenue, number of employees, age of business, business structure and region, March 2008
- Figure 29: Profile, by industry type, by debit card users and non-users, March 2008
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Payment Methods Used by Business Debit Card Users
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- Figure 30: Small business payment methods for business expenses, by debit card users and non-users, March 2008
- Main payment methods used by debit card holders
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- Figure 31: Primary small business payment methods for categories of business expenses among debit card users, March 2008
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Key Influencers in Credit Card Acquisition Among Debit Card Users
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- Figure 32: Most important influencer in credit card acquisition, by debit card users and non-users, March 2008
- Reasons for using primary card
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- Figure 33: Reasons for using primary card, March 2008
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Small Business Debit - Rewards Valued by Business Card Users
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- Figure 34: Rewards valued by small business owners, 2007
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Non-card Users
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- Figure 35: Share of small businesses that use no credit or debit cards, by number of employeea, revenue and region, March 2008
- Figure 36: Reasons for not using credit or debit cards, March 2008
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Appendix: Trade Associations
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