American Express Expands Global Acceptance to 190 Million Merchant Locations

American Express announced on Monday that its global merchant network has expanded to over 190 million locations, a key milestone in its effort to close the acceptance gap with rivals Visa and Mastercard. The company reported that acceptance for its cards outside the U.S. has more than doubled over the past four years.

Strategic Expansion

This expansion addresses a long-standing competitive disadvantage for American Express (NYSE: AXP), which has historically had a smaller merchant footprint than its primary competitors in key international markets. According to a Reuters report, the company has focused its efforts on increasing acceptance in popular travel destinations such as Barcelona, Hong Kong, and Paris.

The strategy also targets locations for major events and high-spend categories. "We also think about locations that will be popular for big events, so say, sporting events, and that’s driven us to focus on places like Mexico City and Melbourne," Anna Marrs, group president for global merchant and network services at AmEx, told Reuters.

Impact on Business Volume

For card networks, broader merchant acceptance is crucial for driving transaction volume and revenue. The more locations that accept a card, the more likely consumers are to use it for a wide range of purchases. This strategy appears to be supporting the company's financial performance, which has shown recent growth in key metrics:

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• Billed business, a measure of spending on its cards, rose 9% to $455.8 billion in the most recent quarter.
• Quarterly revenue grew 10% to $19.6 billion.

The push also aligns with the company's goal of capturing a larger share of spending from younger customers, who are an increasingly important demographic for its user base.

The Road Ahead

AmEx attributed its network growth to deepening relationships with global payment platforms, payment facilitators, and local acquirers. The company signaled that its work to expand the network is not complete.

"We continue to see opportunities all over the world," Marrs said in the interview. "We’re not yet resting in terms of the coverage gains that we want to drive."