Black Friday 2011

Greg Blackman / Black Friday 2011

For many merchants, Thanksgiving Thursday and Black Friday meant more this year (2011) than the start of the holiday shopping season.
Across the board consumers were more willing to spend on gifts that are wants rather than gifts that are basic needs. Total retail categories gained 7 % in dollar volume on a same store basis as spending on clothing, personal care and electronic/appliances stores did well.

 

Non retail discretionary merchants also had strong  volume growth as consumers connected with family and friends over the holiday period. Frugality finally lost out to family fun as consumers spent more on holiday travel, leisure and restaurant visits. All of these discretionary categories posted double digit increases over Black Friday 2010 when leisure and hotels in particular struggled to maintain sales with budget conscious consumers.

Security First Merchant Services,LLC

The 2011 holiday shopping season has shaped up to be a memorable one as strong volume growth of retail sales trends in September and October have carried into the early weeks of the season. The lower average tickets earned by retailers due to wide-spread discounting deals by consumers requires merchants to compete for foot traffic and mouse clicks in order to sustain their dollar growth levels.

Security First Merchant Services, LLC

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, small business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility

Related articles

• Holiday season gives birth to new shoppers (seattlepi.com)
• Holiday season marked by different shopper types (seattlepi.com)

Durbin Amendment Compliance Time Frames

Network Exclusivity

Greg Blackman / Durbin Amendment Compliance Time Frames

Effective Date: October 1, 2011 for networks and April 1, 2012 for issuers.
Final Regulations: Debit card issuers must participate in two unaffiliated networks without regard to the authorization method (one signature network and one unaffiliated PIN network, two unaffiliated PIN or signature debit networks).
Applies to: All debit card issuers and general purpose re-loadable prepaid issuers, regardless of asset size.

Actions for Debit Issuers:
Institutions that currently work with a single debit network provider (Visa/Interlink or MasterCard/Maestro) need to add a second unaffiliated debit network to their existing arrangement.
Selecting a new PIN debit network is an important strategic decision that should take into account many considerations, including merchant acceptance, operational capacity and performance, fraud mitigation, and innovation capabilities and overall strategic value.
“Take action now”

While issuers don’t have to comply with the multiple network requirement until April 1, 2012, networks will not be able to enforce existing exclusive arrangements or enter into new exclusive arrangements as of October 1. The network contracting and implementation time frames require ample  time to ensure timely compliance and management of customer and business risk.

Take advantage of the extra time to fully research other networks’ product offerings and become a member this year to ensure everything is in place before the April 1, 2012 deadline.
Merchant Routing
Effective Date: October 1, 2011
Final Regulations: Merchants allowed to control the routing of debit card transactions (limited to the payment card
networks enabled on the debit card). Applies to: Merchants

Actions for Debit Issuers:
Issuers should seek out network partners that have strong relationships with merchants and that offer nationwide acceptance. Merchant relationships and acceptance will become increasingly important in the post-Durbin marketplace, so issuers should seek partners that have experience working with all industry stakeholders and a history of expanding PIN debit acceptance and utility.
Debit Interchange Rates
Effective Date: October 1, 2011
Final Regulations: Debit interchange composed of a base component capped at $0.21 per transaction, plus an ad
valorem component of 5 basis points on the total transaction value (to offset a portion of each issuer’s fraud losses).
Applies to: Only financial institutions with assets greater than $10 billion.
Fraud Standards
Effective Date: October 1, 2011
Interim Final Regulations: Proposes a fraud prevention adjustment to the debit interchange cap of $.01 per
transaction if an issuer meets general fraud prevention standards. Applies to: Only financial institutions with assets greater than $10 billion

Security First Merchant Services is a business-focused payment solutions company that strives to provide payment processing, small business loans, and credit repair services with a high level of detail and flexibility.

Related articles

• Durbin Amendment Debit Card Regulations (sfms29.wordpress.com)
• Another Debit Network? (sfms29.wordpress.com)