The Role of B2B Credit Cards
Although they have experienced a much slower adoption than consumer credit cards, B2B credit cards are beginning to come into their own. For context, in 2015, only 13.9 million small business credit cards were in circulation, less than 4% of the personal credit cards in circulation at the time.
Some of the challenges facing the adoption of this payment option included the reluctance of certain vendors to accept credit cards, and the relative risk involved. Maintaining an active credit line in such an easily accessible form represents a risk for most businesses, especially in the face of rising credit card fraud. Another potential drawback for many companies was the relatively high fees, with most transactions charging between 3% and 5% for processing.
However, the ease, convenience, and stronger security measures introduced for these solutions have set them up as a preferred method of payment for many businesses. This increasing preference is showing up in the adoption numbers of the solution, and in the volume of yearly transactions.
In 2015, business credit cards accounted for $430 billion in spending, or about 1 in every 6 dollars spent on consumer cards. However, current research from Mercator Advisory Group indicates that business credit card purchase volume is on pace to reach $686 billion in 2022.
Because of their compatibility with online payment solutions, and physical transactions, more businesses are providing B2B credit cards as a payment option for their clients. Despite this, the likely challenges facing business clients who want to adopt this solution means that B2B vendors must find ways to provide a secure, flexible, and attractive option for their clients.
Merchant Direct can help
At Merchant Direct, we offer a full suite of solutions to meet the growing needs of B2B businesses in today’s virtual world:
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Interchange Optimization: Visa and MasterCard have special low Interchange rates for Business, Corporate and Purchasing credit cards. But your transactions can only qualify for these Level 2 and Level 3 rates if they include up to nine lines of additional payment details. Our secure payment gateway gives you the ability to automatically pass the data, ensuring that every one of your clients’ payments is charged the lowest possible rate.
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Custom Integrations: With our in-house team of highly skilled developers, we can help you integrate B2B payments into your existing ERP, CRM, Accounting, or business management software. Increase sales by taking advantage of Web Design, Shopping Cart and SEO solutions.
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E-Invoicing: Reduce the cost of invoicing by automatically sending physical and/or electronic invoices with secure payment links to all your clients. We offer secure portals for your clients, as well as scheduled and recurring billing and all payments are guaranteed to qualify for Level 3 Interchange.
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Security: The surge in online and card-not-present sales unfortunately also comes with an increase in fraudulent transactions and merchant breaches. Reduce fraud with our advanced security features – Fraud Filters, Tokenization and P2PE – which are all built-in to our full featured payment gateway. And your personal account manager will assist you with annual PCI Compliance and Quarterly Scans.