Sam’s Club to Accept MasterCard but Not Visa
By Justin McHenry
Sam’s Club, the warehouse club arm of Wal-Mart, announced yesterday that it is now accepting MasterCard credit cards for purchases at its 589 stores. Previously Sam’s Club had accepted only Discover Card and its store brand credit cards, as well as debit cards. Visa will continue to be shut out of Sam’s Club.
The move is a blow to Visa, but may be an even bigger blow to Discover, which up to this point was customers’ only choice if they wanted to use a general-market credit card at Sam’s Club. This no doubt attracted many customers to Discover who may not have applied for one of their cards otherwise.
A Sam’s Club executive said that the move was in response to customers’ desires for more purchase options at its stores.
