Chase, Bank of America, PNC Bank, Wachovia and Wells Fargo First
to Launch Visa SavingsEdge
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 22, 2008--Visa Inc. (NYSE:
V), a global leader in payments, today announced the launch of Visa
SavingsEdge, a new program designed to help small business owners save
money with automatic discounts at top-tier business merchants. Visa
SavingsEdge provides Visa Business cardholders with automatic
discounts on qualifying purchases made with a Visa Business card at
select merchants.(1) By enrolling their Visa Business credit or check
card at www.visasavingsedge.com, cardholders automatically receive
statement credits for the purchase of qualifying purchases at
participating merchants.
"Small business owners are looking for simple ways to cut costs
and extend their purchasing power," said Raghav Lal, Head of Global
Small Business, Visa Inc. "Visa SavingsEdge is the latest addition to
Visa's assortment of discount programs that can give businesses easy
access to savings on products and services that are important to the
daily function of their business."
The Visa SavingsEdge program is currently available to Visa
Business cardholders with cards issued by Chase, Bank of America, PNC
Bank, Wachovia and Wells Fargo. Visa plans to continue to add merchant
and financial institution partners throughout 2008 and 2009.
Merchants currently enrolled in the Visa SavingsEdge program range
from travel to rental cars to shipping companies and include UPS,
Alamo Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental, and SYX Services, an affiliate
and management services provider to TigerDirect and CompUSA. With Visa
SavingsEdge, merchants can streamline their discount programs, access
new customers and enhance customer loyalty and satisfaction.
"Visa SavingsEdge makes it easy for our small business customers
to receive discounts when they make purchases at TigerDirect and
CompUSA," said Gilbert Fiorentino, CEO at SYX Services. "This added
level of convenience and value is critical in our mission to serve
this important segment."
Visa SavingsEdge is the latest addition to the suite of Visa
Business value-based programs and services tailored to provide small
business owners with discounts and rewards for everyday business
purchases. Also included in the suite are Visa direct marketing
offers, Visa global merchant offers and the Visa Business Network on
Facebook.
"Regardless of the economic environment, savings will always be
important to small business owners. Therefore Visa will continue to
work with our merchant and financial institution partners to create
innovative offerings to address the needs of this unique segment,"
added Lal.
Direct Marketing Offers
Visa recently expanded Visa direct marketing offers to include
Visa Business cardholders. Direct marketing offers allow banks and
merchants to target and deliver compelling offers, such as discounts
or special promotions, to match a business's needs on a
cardholder-by-cardholder basis. Visa has partnered with top merchants
in categories important to small businesses - such as office supplies,
computers and electronics, and airlines - to help them deliver
discounts that are relevant to their business customers.
By allowing this level of tailoring, direct marketing offers help
merchants get the most out of their marketing dollars. In fact, a
participating office supply vendor has recently experienced a 26
percent incremental lift in Visa spend. The direct marketing offers
program comes at no additional cost to Visa Business cardholders and
can be accessed through participating financial institutions.
Global Merchant Offers
Visa has expanded its merchant offers program for small businesses
globally. Visa Business cardholders now can access more than 150
discounts and other offers, including country-specific, regional and
global offers. Discounts are currently available on products and
services in 17 merchant categories, including car service/rental,
computer/electronics, entertainment and telecommunications.
Offers are conveniently presented in 13 local languages and are
available at www.visa.com/visabusinessoffers.(2)
"Small business owners have always been an important audience for
National Car Rental," said Steve Short, Vice President at National.
"The Visa Business direct marketing and merchant offers programs
enable us to provide great service to our business customers, helping
to strengthen our relationships and better meet their needs."
Visa Business Network
Visa also recently launched the Visa Business Network
(www.visabusinessnetwork.com), the first-ever application dedicated to
connecting small businesses on Facebook. Using the Facebook Platform,
business owners can tap into a global network of peers to help them
grow their customer base, manage their business more efficiently and
connect with and learn from other business owners and trusted
advisers.
Visa has partnered with leading content providers such as The Wall
Street Journal marketing, Entrepreneur and Forbes.com to provide
business owners with exclusive access to tools and resources to help
them grow their business. Since its launch in June, the Visa Business
Network has exceeded expectations in terms of business sign-ups and
user participation. As the community flourishes, Visa will continue to
add content partners and functionality to meet small businesses'
needs.
For more information on Visa Business products and services, visit
www.visa.com/smallbusiness.
(1) SavingsEdge is available to cardholders of participating
issuers who enroll by registering their card at
www.visasavingsedge.com.
(2) Discount offers are subject to terms and conditions at
www.visa.com/visabusinessoffers.
About Visa
Visa Inc. operates the world's largest retail electronic payments
network providing processing services and payment product platforms.
This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments,
which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS
brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world, and
Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering
cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries. For more
information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.
CONTACT: Visa Inc.
Sabine Middlemass, +1 650-432-8307
globalmedia@visa.com
or
Fleishman-Hillard
Colleen Smith, +1 415-318-4183
colleen.smith@fleishman.com
SOURCE: Visa Inc.