Today’s card accepting retailers are trying to manage EMV implementations, mobile payments, data security, rewards/loyalty, surcharging, and emerging payment networks, among other items. Each of these challenges is creating numerous opportunities for acquirers, processors, and independent sales organizations (ISOs) to provide additional products, services, and advice. Now in its seventh iteration, Mercator Advisory Group’s annual report on the U.S. merchant acquiring market, Merchant Acquiring in 2013: New Distribution Channels Drive Growth discusses market performance of the largest U.S. acquirers as well as emerging issues in the acquiring space. In particular, this report discusses the importance of solutions for securing card data and managing PCI compliance costs as well as the potential impact of emerging solutions for mobile card acceptance. The report also analyzes several key events and themes worth tracking in 2014 such as EMV implementations, fallout from interchange regulation and merchant discount litigation, PayPal’s in-store rollout, and the growing importance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and industry specialization for growing payment volumes.

1. Merchant Acquiring In 2013:
New Distribution Channels Drive Growth
December 2013

2. Merchant Acquiring in 2013: New Distribution
Channels Drive Growth
Today’s card accepting retailers are trying to manage EMV
implementations, mobile payments, data security, rewards/loyalty,
surcharging, and emerging payment networks, among other items.
Each of these challenges is creating numerous opportunities for
acquirers, processors, and independent sales organizations (ISOs)
to provide additional products, services, and advice.
Now in its seventh iteration, Mercator Advisory Group’s annual
report on the U.S. merchant acquiring market, Merchant Acquiring
in 2013: New Distribution Channels Drive Growth discusses
market performance of the largest U.S. acquirers as well as
emerging issues in the acquiring space.
2013 Mercator Advisory Group

3. Merchant Acquiring in 2013: New Distribution
Channels Drive Growth
In particular, this report discusses the importance of solutions for
securing card data and managing PCI compliance costs as well as
the potential impact of emerging solutions for mobile card
acceptance. The report also analyzes several key events and
themes worth tracking in 2014 such as EMV implementations,
fallout from interchange regulation and merchant discount litigation,
PayPal’s in-store rollout, and the growing importance of small and
medium enterprises (SMEs) and industry specialization for growing
payment volumes.
2013 Mercator Advisory Group

4. Michael Misasi
Senior Analyst
Credit Advisory Service
Mercator Advisory Group
“The U.S. merchant acquiring market is definitely a growth
market,” comments Michael Misasi, senior analyst at
Mercator Advisory Group and author of the report.
“Acquirers that are both opportunistic with their vertical
strategies and flexible with regard to implementing new
technologies for emerging payment segments will benefit the
most from this growth.”
2013 Mercator Advisory Group

5. Highlights of the full report
• Market share estimates for the largest acquirer processors
• Profiles of the top 8 processors in the U.S., including recent
performance and product announcements
• Analysis of how emerging solutions for securing data and
providing mobile acceptance are changing the acquiring
landscape
• Discussion of 6 key events and themes to track in 2014
2013 Mercator Advisory Group

6. Figure 1: U.S. Retail Sales Growth, 2007–2013
Year-over-Year Percentage Change in Purchase Volume
20.2%
16.4%
16.2%
11.3%
4.0%
0.6%
2007
4.2%
2008
4.5%
1.7%
2009
-5.7%
2.3%
-15.4%
7.0%
2010
2011
17.4%
16.3%
10.5%
4.9%
10.2%
8.2%
3.0%
2012
-15.1%
U.S. Retail Total (excl. autos)
U.S. E-commerce
Source: US Census Bureau
© 2013 Mercator Advisory Group
U.S. Auto Sales
2013P

7. About the Full Report
This report contains 25 pages and 12 exhibits.
Companies mentioned in this report include: American
Express, Chase Paymentech, Discover, Diners
Club, Elavon, Element Payment Services, First American
Payments, First Data, Global Payments, Heartland Payment
Systems, JCB, Litle, MasterCard, Moneris, Mercury
Payments, NPC, PayPal, TSYS, Vantiv, Visa, WorldPay
Members of Mercator Advisory Group’s Credit Advisory Service
have access to these reports as well as the upcoming research for
the year ahead, presentations, analyst access, and other
membership benefits.
2013 Mercator Advisory Group

8. About the Full Report
For more information and media inquiries, please call Mercator
Advisory Group's main line: (781) 419-1700, send e-mail to
info@mercatoradvisorygroup.com.
For free industry news, opinions, research, company information and
more visit us at www.PaymentsJournal.com.
Follow us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/MercatorAdvisor.
2013 Mercator Advisory Group

9. About Mercator Advisory Group
Mercator Advisory Group is the leading independent research and advisory
services firm exclusively focused on the payments and banking industries. We
deliver pragmatic and timely research and advice designed to help our clients
uncover the most lucrative opportunities to maximize revenue growth and
contain costs.
Our clients range from the world's largest payment
issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants and associations to leading
technology providers and investors. Mercator Advisory Group is also the
publisher of the online payments and banking news and information portal
PaymentsJournal.com.
2013 Mercator Advisory Group