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No standard exists for measuring attrition among independent sales organizations and acquirers, making it difficult to discuss merchant-attrition rates on an industrywide level, according to Michelle Wagner, vice president of global marketing at Elavon Inc. "We never talk about actual attrition rates because there is no actual industry measure to define attrition," says Wagner. "The industry is going to measure attrition differently. Some will measure by volume, some by merchant locations, some by revenue lost." The Atlanta-based acquirer and processor uses all three methods to measure merchant-attrition rates, she says, noting Elavon does not publish the data. A recent Aite Group LLC report estimates the annual merchant-attrition rate in the United States is 12%. To reach its estimate, Boston-based Aite defined merchant attrition as the number of merchants that leave their processors over a one-year period, according to the report "The Allure of Greener Grass: An Analysis of Merchant Attrition."
