WinCo to open first store inside Seattle City Limits

[Super S]

I mean Costco only accepts Visa and it hasn't put them out of business. 3 out of 4 credit cards don't work there. And it wasn't terribly long ago that they only accepted Amex which is a very limited population of credit cards. What would be smart is for Winco to pursue a similar exclusive deal with Visa or Mastercard that basically reduces their acceptance charges. The problem is that I don't see much of a chance for a exclusive store credit card offering to offset the charges like Costco offers.

Yet Costco does accept other cards for online purchases.

[storewanderer]

Winco will be opening its long delayed store in Goodyear(AZ) next week… there is an existing Walmart, Aldi, and Safeway to the south of it. The problem with Winco here is they don’t take credit cards, unlike every other grocer in town. Snowbirds here use their credit cards to buy groceries.

WinCo ended its credit card trial in Oklahoma. It was an interesting place to try credit card acceptance. I would have tried it at "high income" area stores to see if it made any difference in attracting a different customer base. Maybe WinCos don't exist in "high income" areas.

So I think the ship has again sailed on WinCo accepting credit cards. Not happening anytime soon.

Maybe they'll do another test run in 10 more years.

If surcharging for credit cards gets more common at retail (so far this practice has become horrendously common at independent/small chain restaurants in some areas) then they will have no reason not to accept since they can surcharge. I'd rather not see surcharging become common though. Nasty practice.

I mean Costco only accepts Visa and it hasn't put them out of business. 3 out of 4 credit cards don't work there. And it wasn't terribly long ago that they only accepted Amex which is a very limited population of credit cards. What would be smart is for Winco to pursue a similar exclusive deal with Visa or Mastercard that basically reduces their acceptance charges. The problem is that I don't see much of a chance for a exclusive store credit card offering to offset the charges like Costco offers.

Woodmans in IL/WI accepts only Discover and markets it as their "official credit card." I assume they got a similar deal like little to no fee to accept.

WinCo probably doesn't want to bother. It hurts their business but it is difficult to measure how much it hurts. At this point if I were WinCo I would continue my "no credit cards" policy. Enough people shop there.

[ClownLoach]

I mean Costco only accepts Visa and it hasn't put them out of business. 3 out of 4 credit cards don't work there. And it wasn't terribly long ago that they only accepted Amex which is a very limited population of credit cards. What would be smart is for Winco to pursue a similar exclusive deal with Visa or Mastercard that basically reduces their acceptance charges. The problem is that I don't see much of a chance for a exclusive store credit card offering to offset the charges like Costco offers.

Yet Costco does accept other cards for online purchases.

And most items are marked up on their website versus the stores. Sometimes substantially, up to 25% for lower priced items like clothing.

[storewanderer]

I mean Costco only accepts Visa and it hasn't put them out of business. 3 out of 4 credit cards don't work there. And it wasn't terribly long ago that they only accepted Amex which is a very limited population of credit cards. What would be smart is for Winco to pursue a similar exclusive deal with Visa or Mastercard that basically reduces their acceptance charges. The problem is that I don't see much of a chance for a exclusive store credit card offering to offset the charges like Costco offers.

Yet Costco does accept other cards for online purchases.

And most items are marked up on their website versus the stores. Sometimes substantially, up to 25% for lower priced items like clothing.

Plus the website hits non-members with a 10% surcharge. A credit card processing cost is more than recouped by that.

When Kroger cut off Visa if you ordered online at Smiths you still couldn't use Visa. But if you went to Kroger and did a "ship" order into a Smiths territory it did accept Visa.

So it would be possible for Costco to say- Visa only. Visa is the highest marketshare credit card in the US.