JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Ink card portfolio has helped businesses simplify their expense management through various upgrades and enhancements, which may translate into more users of the issuer’s consumer cards as well, one observer suggests.
Chase on July 26 announced new enhancements to its Ink Class and Ink Cash credit cards, including ways to earn points and cash back faster, such as by giving five rewards points per dollar spent and 5% cash back on purchases of office supplies and telecommunication and cable services.
The issuer added the enhancements based on internal research done with small businesses to determine the rewards they found most meaningful, Mike Nagle, Chase general manager of Ink, tells PaymentsSource.
Simplicity in redeeming cash back and points was a key necessity, Nagle says. “Small-business owners are extremely busy, and we don’t want them to spend too much time searching for what they want” with a rewards program, he says.
Adding a mobile application also is helping small businesses, as Chase in June launched Jot to enable Ink cardholders to manage their card spending using their smart phones (
Through the app, cardholders can tag purchases to keep track of what they spend for different accounts or customers. At the end of the month, they can sync the mobile app to their personal computers when doing their bookkeeping, Nagle says, declining to say how many Ink customers have downloaded the app or use Jot.
For the second time, Ink from Chase is sponsoring with Bloomberg Television a program called “Bloomberg the Mentor,” which teams small-business owners with experienced business mentors and CEOs to help them solve problems. This year, Chase is inviting Ink cardholders to apply to be on the show, says Nagle.
Chase runs Ink advertisements during the 30-minute, four-episode show.
The issuer will continue to focus on TV advertising for Jot and use various marketing initiatives to promote the latest Ink card enhancements, such as direct mail and the use of online channels such as Hulu.com.
At least one observer believes Chase is doing the proper things to promote Ink to take advantage of the potential growth in the small-business card market.
“Chase is the 800-pound gorilla [in the small-business credit card market] and has been for some time,” says Dennis Moroney, research director at TowerGroup. “To make life easier for small businesses is really smart.”
Small-business growth is one segment that is helping pull the economy out of recession, he says.
TowerGroup estimates that 2010 small-business card sales volume totaled $275 billion. Credit cards represented about 58%, or $160 billion, of that amount, while 42%, or $115 billion, came from debit card use. TowerGroup estimates that the growth rate for small-business credit cards was just more than 4%.
“Remember, credit was tight for small businesses in 2010 and started to open up in mid-2010 to the end of 2010,” Moroney notes.
Getting small-business owners to use Chase’s card also may spur those same consumers to choose Chase cards for their household spending, Moroney says.
“Deeper penetration of the small-business market could get an issuer deeper into the household card market,” he says, noting the better the relationship customers have with an issuer the more of its products they likely will use.
American Express Co., also a big player in the small-business credit card market with its Open series of card programs and services, did not comment by press time on its status in the segment.
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