ADDRESSING THE B2B OPPORTUNITY

Five actions issuers can take to unlock the growth opportunity in commercial payments by advocating B2B card acceptance

Thanks to working capital benefits, simplified procurement, and greater visibility over spend, commercial card use has become increasingly popular among B2B buyers. Yet, despite this, suppliers’ card acceptance for commercial payments is lagging behind, hindering buyers’ attempts to pay by card.

Suzanne Carter and Riaan van Niekerk

This triggers the knock-on effect of hindering issuers from tapping into the huge opportunity B2B payments present, with the B2B payments market estimated to be worth $145T globally.¹ Without suppliers offering card acceptance, issuers wanting to increase payment volumes can potentially miss out on these high-value B2B transactions and suffer from reduced customer satisfaction, while also experiencing limitations on their ability to expand their card issuance. In addition to this, they risk losing access to revenue opportunities.

Despite this hurdle, issuers have a clear motive to drive change. By facilitating supplier education and enablement through effective collaboration, issuers may not only increase revenue and build stronger supplier relationships, but can also ultimately create a win-win situation by helping all parties in the payments ecosystem unlock the full benefits of commercial cards.

Acceptance hurdles

There are multiple reasons suppliers may not currently accept cards for B2B transactions, including:

The perceived high cost

Many suppliers – particularly those with tighter margins – think the processing fees of commercial card transactions outweigh any operational benefits. Additionally, internal and external costs associated with set-up can be a barrier.

A lack of understanding

There’s a significant gap in knowledge around how the benefits and costs of commercial cards compare; many believe the costs outweigh the benefits when, in fact, the opposite is true.

A complex setup

With many organizations bound by process and cost considerations, driving change is difficult. Yet there are actions issuers can take to set the wheels in motion.

One way is to incentivise buyers with rebates to primarily spend with suppliers who accept commercial cards – which, in a highly competitive landscape, could be lucrative. But to have a more sustainable, long-term impact, issuers should look at how they can work with acquirers and payments networks to facilitate education on the full spectrum of benefits commercial card acceptance can deliver.

Five steps to greater card acceptance

To drive greater card acceptance that benefits everyone, issuers should consider taking the following steps:

Championing the role of the buyer

Commercial card acceptance is highly situational and relationship driven. Another step issuers can take is to advise and support their own corporate clients with the role buyers play in the process, to encourage their suppliers to accept cards.

Buyers who are heavily invested in their card program can have a significant impact – being able to pay faster can be hugely appealing to suppliers. A key strategy involves buyers stepping up supplier outreach, clearly communicating that card is their preferred payment method; an expectation rather than a nice-to-have. This could involve asking procurement teams to bolster discussion around card acceptance with suppliers, ensuring they understand the full range of benefits of accepting cards, including a potential for increased purchases.

Further moves issuers can take is to encourage buyers to ensure card payments are written into their agreement with the supplier, alongside offering ‘preferred vendor status’ to suppliers that are card friendly.

Educate suppliers, unlock benefits

While depending on supplier card acceptance to increase payment volume has its drawbacks, issuers are in a strong position to support effective supplier education by collaborating with the wider ecosystem. By facilitating a better understanding of the benefits of card acceptance, issuers stand to drive improvements not just for themselves, but for the entire payments ecosystem.

Visa is here to help

Visa’s card payment experts are available to support issuers in their efforts. Issuers can actively engage Visa in any cost or benefit analysis they wish to carry out, as we have tools in place to help with these bespoke and sometimes complex calculations.

Furthermore, our dedicated supplier enablement teams are well equipped to carry out outbound calling campaigns to speak with suppliers and highlight the benefits of card acceptance, supporting virtual card acceptance and straight-through-processing (STP) specifically. Issuers can also take advantage of Visa Supplier Matching Service to help identify card accepting merchants, while the Visa Spend Analytics tool helps showcase card opportunities.

About the authors

Suzanne Carter

Global Head of Supplier Enablement Services, Visa Commercial Solutions

Riaan van Niekerk

Regional Head of B2B Acceptance, Visa Commercial Solutions

Here to help

Visa supports issuers in their efforts to promote card acceptance. Contact us to learn more about how we can help.

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McKinsey Global Payments Map 2022, 2022 EY Visa Direct Global Market Sizing Study, Visa analysis.
B2B Commercial card acceptance in Latin America and the Caribbean - Economic implications, benefits, and challenges. Visa commissioned study conducted by RGX. September 2024.
From Transaction to Transformation: Quantifying the Value of B2B Card Acceptance to Large Suppliers in Africa, Central Europe and the Middle East. Korefusion. June 2025.
Understanding the value of commercial card acceptance in Asia Pacific (AP). Visa commissioned study. 2024.
Understanding the value of commercial card acceptance in Europe. Visa commissioned study. 2024.
Drive Commercial Card Growth With Custom Interchange Empower The B2B Payment Ecosystem With A Value-Centric Approach. A Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership Paper commissioned by Visa. September 2024.