Sam’s Club and American Express have announced that starting on October 1st, the discount warehouse will begin accepting American Express cards. Currently Sam’s Club only accepts Visa & Mastercard (and they will continue to accept these after October 1st).
Earlier this year it was revealed that American Express would no longer issue the Costco credit cards, with Capital One taking over the portfolio and that the cards would run on the Visa payment network. In addition to this only Visa credit cards would be accepted in store (previously only American Express cards were accepted in store, all major payment networks are accepted online which allows consumers to purchase Costco giftcards that can be then used in store).
It’s extremely unlikely that American Express will issue Sam’s Club credit cards though, that portfolio is owned by Synchrony Bank now with new cards being released only earlier this year. American Express are always looking to improve their acceptance rate, but this move was likely more public relations based than anything else.
Unfortunately it’s not going to get anywhere close to replacing the lost Costco partnership. Last quarter Sam’s Club did $14.73 billion in sales compared to $25.52 billion in sales that Costco did. Keep in mind that American Express had exclusivity with Costco and they won’t have that same luxury with Sam’s Club (or the co-branded credit card relationship).
