American Express Shop Small Promotion 2020

[Tom]

Hi Seller Community Members —

Much like everything in 2020, Shop Small® is showing up a bit differently this year. In partnership with American Express, we're promoting the Shop Small® recovery plan to help small businesses get back to business after COVID-19.

What's included?

This year, the promotion includes free "Open for Business" kits. The kits contain items such as hand sanitizers and floor decals to encourage physical distancing in stores. There are a limited number of 40,000 kits available to Square Sellers. Eligible merchants will receive an email allowing them to order the kit within the next two weeks.

If supplies run out, you can still order a digital kit that allows you to print out signage and social media assets from home to help encourage customers to shop small with you. Learn more here: Supporting Your Small Business with Shop Small®

Common Questions

Here are some common questions that Sellers usually have about participating in the American Express Shop Small® movement.

What is the #ShopSmall campaign?
In previous years, this campaign was known as "Small Business Saturday" as a day dedicated to supporting small businesses. The #ShopSmall campaign is a nationwide movement created by American Express to celebrate small businesses every day and to help communities thrive. Shop Small® Saturday usually happens in November in anticipation of the holiday shopping season, but this year Amex is launching the campaign earlier to help more businesses.

How can I participate?

• Order your free Open for Business kit to help get more customers in your store.
• Reach customers online by downloading our digital toolkit. Download assets that you can post on social media or print-at-home today.
• Add your business information to get discovered by shoppers browsing the Shop Small® Map.
• Let your customers know, now is the time to support the places they love. Eligible American Express Card Members who spend $10+ in a single transaction at a participating small business will get $5 back as a statement credit, up to 10X, after they shop in store or online. Terms apply. Card Members must enroll by 8/23/2020, spend by 9/20/2020. Visit ShopSmall.com/OfferTerms to learn more.
• Additional resources on re-opening can be found at: square.com/go/shopsmall

What is the Shop Small® Map?
The Shop Small® Map is a filtered experience within American Express Maps. The Shop Small® Map only displays U.S. businesses that meet certain Shop Small® eligibility criteria.

What businesses are qualified to appear on the Shop Small® Map?
To appear on the Shop Small® Map, Merchants must meet the following criteria:

• You must be an American Express Card accepting Merchant;
• You must be located in the 50 United States, District of Columbia, American Samoa, Armed Forces Pacific, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. For brick-and-mortar businesses, this means that you must have at least one physical business location within these territories; for online-only businesses, this means that you must have a service area within these territories;
• You must have at least 1 but no more than 25 locations (for brick-and-mortar businesses) and have no more than $5M in American Express annual charge volume.
• You must not be part of a franchise brand that has more than 250 stores; Additionally, if a franchise brand has more than 25 corporate-owned stores, then the entire brand is excluded;
• You must be enabled to accept American Express Cards. Merchants who have been with us for more than 12 months must have had at least 1 transaction in the last calendar year.
• Businesses in these industries are excluded: Government agencies, public administration, gas stations and businesses located on the same premises as a gas station, travel agencies, charities, non-profits, peer-to-peer payments, crowdfunding, trade associations, shopping property management companies, direct sellers, and political organizations;

For more information on eligibility, see here.

How do I add my business to the map?

Follow the steps below to add your business to the map:

• Go to: americanexpress.com/loginshopsmall
• Enter you Tax ID
  • If your federal Tax ID was not used to set up your Square account, please use the last four digits of your Social Security Number
• Enter your zip code
• Click “Log In”

We’re proud to partner with American Express to encourage card members to support the businesses they love. Please don't hesitate to reply below and let us know if any questions come up about the different format for 2020 — we'll get them addressed as soon as possible. Let’s #ShopSmall and celebrate and support local business!

[#2]

I've been trying to get some things setup with AMEX Shop Small system the past few weeks, but they require a Merchant Code or Access Code in order to setup an account to order supplies or to get placement on their map.  How do I go about finding out what our AMEX Merchant Code or Access Code is with American Express from within Square?  Thank you.

[pondcountry]

I've been trying to get some things setup with AMEX Shop Small system the past few weeks, but they require a Merchant Code or Access Code in order to setup an account to order supplies or to get placement on their map.  How do I go about finding out what our AMEX Merchant Code or Access Code is with American Express from within Square?  Thank you.

[Tom]

Thanks for bringing this up, @pondcountry. That's a good question and I'm running this by our Partnerships team for more clarity. We'll be back as soon as we can confirm the details — appreciate your patience!

[CCJ]

Just checking to see if you found a Merchant ID or Access code for Square users?

[Tom]

Hi @CCJ and @BluFlamingoMani, we're still waiting for a confirmation on this. I'll return to this thread with what to do as soon as I get the update. Appreciate you hanging tight. 🙏

[CCJ]

Thank you! I will be keeping an eye out.

[Tom · Accepted solution]

Good day @pondcountry, @CCJ, and @BluFlamingoMani!

I just received an update from our Partnerships team regarding your questions about the access code:

You can log into the American Express Shop Small® Map using your business zip code & last six digits of your SSN or Tax ID. In addition, you can order supplies at americanexpress.com/signage and check out as a guest. Please note: certain products like check presenters may require an access code. If you need assistance, please call the Shop Small servicing team at 1-833-213-0506 (Mon – Fri, 9am – 6pm ET) or email ShopSmallHelp@aexp.com.

I hope this gets you where you need to be! Thank you again for your flexibility, and definitely let me know if any other questions remain.

[WildCountry]

I was on it before switching to Square but cannot add back because of no AMEX Merchant ID.  Old threads indicate that it can/could be done, but how?

[ashc]

Hey @WildCountry,

I moved your post to the existing thread for this with more information.

Check out the answers above. 

[WildCountry]

Thank you for the help.  I found the help phone number on the Shop Small site and was able to login to my site...

Another problem:  None of this thread came up when searching Help or the Community using "shop small"!  The only results were from 2017-2018.  Answers are not helpful if they cannot be found...

[AshleyK]

@WildCountry thanks for letting us know! We did have a bug yesterday that affected the Seller Community's log in features and search features. It should be resolved now, but please let me know if you still cannot search for this thread and I can surface this with engineering again.

[WildCountry]

Thanks Ashley, Today, searching on "shop small" gets no results if not logged in but hundreds if you are...

[ashc]

@WildCountry Totally know what you mean there. If you're logged in you have easier access to existing Community thread articles.

If you're logged out it shows a bunch of help articles but there's not one for this particular event.

[Tom]

Thank you for surfacing this @WildCountry and @ashc! I wanted to check in and let you know that we've escalated this search issue for a closer look. Hope to have it sorted out soon. 🙏

[wearmacon]

American Express is providing freebies to stores that accept their cards; currently, a 'back to business' box of goodies. They have also provided Small Business Saturday materials in the past. In order to sign up, a Merchant ID # is required--entering the email address or 'Square' does not work as a merchant ID # with them.

I'm about to call & see what I can do through their help center, but thought I'd drop this here in case anyone else is having the same issue. Any advice?

[Kyle5]

We try not to take Amex. And their Shop Small crap goes right in the garbage.

[digitalascend]

This is awesome! Thank you for the info! I failed to see an official #hashtag are there any?

[Tom]

Hey @digitalascend — good catch! I double checked with our Partnerships team and American Express confirmed #ShopSmall as their official hashtag for this campaign. Hope this helps clear things up and amplifies your business in the discussion on social media!

[Botanero]

Thank you! Great opportunity here.

[BluFlamingoMani]

Where can I find my Amex Merchant Number and/or Access Code?

I'm looking for my American Express Merchant Number and/or Access Code so that I can register at amex.com .  When I called, they said to contact Square because you would be able to give me the information.  I saw another thread said to use the email associated with the business, but the form only allows for numbers.

[saulscouture]

The social media kit has enrolled date by 8/23/2020 but on AMEX site and IG shopsmall account I saw it says enrolled by 7/26/2020. Im a little confused. Do you which one is the correct one? Thanks