Abstract
As merchant processing technology has evolved, and its variations and
varieties have become more diverse, an exceedingly large number of entities
have gained a very significant footprint within the merchant card services
space while participating only in auxiliary capacities in the payments value
chain.
These entities are known by several different monikers, all of which seem to
acknowledge their ancillary nature: Third-Party Processors, Certified Vendors,
Value-Added Resellers. While industry nomenclature keeps these entities at
arm' s length, the greater market, including the core "merchant side" payments
value chain participants, is more than happy to depend upon them to provide
solutions to merchants that the core has not traditionally had to offer. In
effect, acquirers have willfully allowed themselves to be disintermediated by
others delivering the value-add, while concentrating their main focus on
delivering the commodity service.
Mercator Advisory Group' s The Rise of the VARs: Merchant Attrition and
Value-Added Technology' s Impact on Account Retention examines the market
dynamics surrounding merchant account attrition in the United States as they
are revealed through government business statistics as well as processor and
acquirer data. Discussion also focuses on payment solutions brought to market
by VARs/TPPs and by merchant acquirers that are in direct competition with
VARs' products, as well as some of the issues associated with that business
model. We also explore ways in which VAR applications impact acquirer/merchant
relationships from both the retention and attrition perspectives. Finally, we
address some of the lingering compliance concerns with VAR solutions as more
and more merchant payment volume passes through third-party systems every year.
"Merchant attrition could be effectively alleviated if acquirers offered
value-added solutions above and beyond the commodity service to merchants they
want to retain, actually delivering value, making the merchants want to stay
put. In the context of merchant-initiated voluntary attrition, technology can,
and should, play a leading role in merchant account retention, thereby
potentially reducing the amount of natural churn in the marketplace," David
Fish, Senior Analyst in Mercator Advisory Group' s Credit Advisory Service and
author of the report comments. "As more and more providers of value-added
technology enter the merchant payment processing space, and as payment
acquirers act more and more like VARs themselves, the industry faces yet
another cycle of creative destruction. In one regard, the technology itself,
upon which the industry has no choice but to grow, is partially responsible
for accelerating change within the industry as new business models it enables
arise. On the other hand, shifting market dynamics feed back upon the
technology, which has no choice but to evolve to accommodate those shifts."
Report Highlights Include:
- Value-Added Technology is changing the merchant services space and
merchant acquirers are seeking ways of expanding their own value-added
technology footprint.
- Value-Added Resellers have fueled the innovation that has spurred merchant
processors and acquirers to pursue value-added technology.
- Much of the interest in value-added technology from acquirers has been in
response to rising concern about merchant attrition and ways in which
technology might facilitate greater retention.
- However, unless the acquirer/processor is also the technology provider,
VAR systems, by virtue of their agnostic nature, have a tendency to make
merchants more slippery.
- Security and operational compliance concerns also arise when value-added
technology is thrown into the merchant mix, and deadlines for compliance with
PA DSS are looming.
This report contains 27 pages and 7 exhibits
Companies Mentioned in This Report: Apriva; Banc of America Merchant Services;
Bank of America; Chase Paymentech; Citi Merchant Services; CyberSource
(Authorize.net); Elavon; Fifth Third Processing; First Data; First National
Merchant Solutions; Gilbarco; Global Payments (GPN); Heartland Payment Systems
(HPY); Infonox, a TSYS company; Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts (KKR); Litle & Co.;
Main Street Softworks (Monetra); MasterCard; Merchant Link; Mercury Payments;
MICROS; Online Resources (ORCC); RBS WorldPay; Skipjack; SunTrust Merchant
Services; Transaction Network Services (TNS); TSYS; United Bank Card;
VeriFone; Visa; Wells Fargo Merchant Services.
Table of Contents
TABLE OF FIGURES
Introduction
I. The Pervasive Subtext - Merchant Attrition
II. Major Exposition - Technology' s Impact On Merchant Market Dynamics
- UNITED BANK CARD / HARBORTOUCH
- TOTAL SYSTEMS SERVICES / INFONOX
- LITLE & CO
III. The Plot Thickens - Compliance With Security And Operational Best Practices
Conclusion - What' s "In Store" For Act Two?
TABLE OF FIGURES
- Figure 1: VARs Increasingly Act as Intermediaries between Merchants and
Acquirers
- Figure 2: US Quarterly Business Bankruptcy Filings
- Figure 3: Annual Net Birth Rate for Employer Establishments in the US
1977-2005
- Figure 4: Number of Employer Establishments in the US 1988-2006
- Figure 5: Total Number of Merchant Accounts in the US 2005-2008
- Figure 6: Portfolio Size for Top 10 Acquirers
- Figure 7: VAR Segments Encompass VARious Products and Business Models
