2024 Small Business PaymentsInsights: U.S.: Payment Acceptance Services & Card Payment Processing

Small businesses make up the largest segment of businesses in the U.S. economy. Understanding the types of payments these businesses accept and the vendors that enable these services is critical to understanding the U.S. payments landscape. Small businesses are on the front lines to adapt to changing consumer payment preferences and must be ready for change. 

There was some shuffling among the top five payment methods that merchants accept. Cash remains the most widely accepted, while checks was replaced by major credit cards and fell to third. Debit cards and digital/mobile wallets both followed. Interestingly, buy now, pay later saw a steep drop off in in-store acceptance—falling from 46% of respondents last year, to 32% this year. 

Lowering total cost remained the most important reason when selecting a primary card processor, but there was a deviation from last year’s data when factoring in annual company sales. There was a six percentage-point increase among businesses netting $1M or more in annual revenue who said lowering total cost was the most important reason for choosing a primary card processor. There was a two percentage-point decrease for small businesses below this annual sales threshold. 

Small businesses widely express satisfaction with their current primary card acceptance service provider. This is reflected in the data that Javelin uncovered regarding switching providers. Small businesses that sell through both physical and digital channels are less likely to switch providers compared to the same results from last year’s survey.

Highlights of the research report include:

• Payment Acceptance
• Payment Service Providers
• In-Store Payment Technology