Team Merchant Case Study: Mutual Sales Corporation

Background

Mutual Sales Corp has been located on Belmont Avenue in Chicago for over 60 years. As distributors for major manufacturers – Stanley; Black & Decker; Bosch, Milwaukee; Makita and Metabo – MSC supplies tools, fasteners, blades, core bits, safety gear and clothing and over 6,000 items used on commercial and industrial construction projects and job sites. Team Merchant conducted an assessment of MSC’s payment solutions, hardware and processes to identify opportunities for improvement.

The Problem

Mutual Sales Corporation’s credit card processing fees continued to increase every year and the complex bills with hidden charges made it impossible to figure out why. The majority of MSC’s customers are other businesses, yet they were not receiving the substantial Level 2, 3 & large ticket discounts available when processing those B2B cards. Further, Mutual Sales Corporation was not enrolled in the OptBlue program from American Express which also reduces rates. They had outdated equipment, leading to security vulnerabilities which made PCI compliance very difficult and expensive. They received no help on attaining PCI compliance and were charged an additional monthly non-compliance fee.

Summary of Benefits

1.     34% Reduction in Total Payment Processing Costs.

2.    27% Reduction of American Express Fees.

3.    Removed from PCI-DSS scope.

4.    Internal Process Improvements.

34% Reduction in Total Payment Processing Costs.

• Installed new hardware with encryption and automated interchange optimization for B2B cards.

• Deployed virtual terminal solutions with built in automated interchange optimization for B2B cards.

• Implemented a system to qualify online sales through an existing 3rd Party Gateway (Authorize.net) for additional commercial card savings.

27% Reduction of American Express Fees.

• Enrolled Mutual Sales Corporation in AMEX’s Opt Blue program to achieve greater cost savings on most AMEX transactions.

• Ensured correct industry code and business type categorization, qualifying AMEX cards for discounted rates.

Removed Office from PCI-DSS Scope

• Implemented new Point to Point Encrypted (P2PE) card readers and terminals for in-person and phone transactions, reducing and eliminating existing security vulnerabilities.

• Assisted with completion of PCI Security Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and Vulnerability scan requirements, eliminating costly PCI non-compliance fees.

Internal Process Improvements:

• Team Merchant provided a centralized, real time reporting tool, allowing access to transaction level detail, as well as daily funding les which correspond to bank deposits, that streamlines reconciliation.

• Mutual Sales Corporation now has the ability for a direct integration into their ERP, Fishbowl, as well as Quickbooks, allowing for additional time savings, centralization of data and elimination of manual reconciliation.