Retail IT News

Distributor Ingram Micro has announced a new type of offering for them, Ingram Micro Merchant Services, a turn-key credit card payment processing service which their resellers can resell to retail customers.

The program, which is exclusive to the U.S., is being launched at RetailNow 2011, taking place July 24-26 in Orlando.

"This allows resellers who have customers who are retail-type outlets to accept credit card payments," said Marc Rachiele, Director, Vendor Management and Marketing, Ingram Micro, DC/POS Division. "It's not just for their business with Ingram Micro resellers. It's for all their customers. This is for anyone who needs to accept credit cards."

Rachiele said that this is something that resellers have been asking for, and that it's a type of service the distributor has not previously offered.

Rachiele said two sources of revenue exist for partners here.

"There is a recurring revenue, an annuity stream," he said. They are also offering partners a large, upfront incentive for each service sold.

"For the end-customer, our offer is about as aggressive as it gets in the industry," Rachiele said. "We will be offering very aggressive rates. The payment processing company that we have partnered with is a very well known company in this space."

"The opportunity here is not just selling this service to a shoe store," said Jay Giron, Vendor Business Manager, Ingram Micro DC/POS. "While it can be sold as a stand-alone service, it also can be part of a mobility solution, to a company with people with mobile computers on a network, processing credit card transactions." It can also be part of broad point-of-sale solutions as well.

Rachiele said it's an easy opportunity for VARs to overlook because the revenues on each single transaction are small -- but they are incremental.

"It's not big money per transaction, but it's recurring revenue, and the dollars do add up," he said. "We also handle all the heavy lifting, so the VARs don't have to do that. If they aren't offering payment services today, they are leaving easy money on the table."

In addition to low processing fees for virtually all types of credit and debit cards, customers using Ingram Micro Merchant Services will receive 24/7 customer service and technical support, as well as online access to their account information, such as billing and detailed reporting of all credit card types including Visa, MasterCard, Discover Network and American Express.

"Our main focus will be on the Tier 2 and Tier 3 opportunities, but it's scalable up to the larger companies," Giron said. "Getting large ones to sign onto this is feasible but it's more of a process to get them to come over."

To learn more about Ingram Micro Merchant Services, channel partners can call Ingram Micro at (877) 864-8056 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Source: http://www.echannelline.com/usa/story.cfm?item=27017