Market Overview

The online retail eCommerce sales for the United States in 2011 are around $ 195 billion |  Visa, MasterCard, American Express are the preferred online payment methods in the USA |  15-20% online sales growth for 2012 expected.

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Payment Market  | United Stats of America (USA)

The online retail sales for the United States in 2011 are around $ 195 billion | For 2012 again a 15.4% growth is expected in a maturing market to $ 224 billion.

Main drivers for the increase are the Apparel and Accessories segment (+21%) worth $ 34.2 billion. Top segment remains Computer & Consumer Electronics with over 42 billion USD in 2011. eMarketer estimate the total online US sales by 2016 exceeding 360 billion US dollar.

The United States has over 313 million people and ranks 2nd on the GDP worldranking ($ 15.04 trillion) | over 78% of the population has (broadband) internet access.

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Payment Market  | Payment Methods

It might be no surprise that credit cards | Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners, Discover and JCB | are the preferred e-commerce payment methods in the United States. Followed by Debit Cards, PayPal and Electronic check payments.

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Payment Market  | Payment Gateways

Payment gateways or Payment Service Providers are the ‘hub’ for eCommerce merchants to various payment methods. Below a couple of Payment Gateways that operate on the US Market and support online (local) payment methods.

2Checkout.com  | Authorize.Net  (Cybersource) | USAePay | Pivotal Payments | Optimal Payments | First Data Global Gateway (Linkpoint) | Worldpay | Moneybookers.com | Intuit Payments | Quickbooks Merchant Services

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Payment Market  | Merchant Acquirers

Merchant Acquirers are the financial institutions that authorize and settle payments to the merchant account. Payment Gateways are connected to these merchant acquirers. Below the Merchant Acquirers that are licensed to operate on the US Market.

Bank of America Merchant Services | Capital One Merchant Services | Chase Paymentech Solutions | Citi Merchant Services | Elavon | HSBC Bank USA | Wells Fargo Merchant Card Services | Worldpay | Click here for a full list of acquirers by Visa USA

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Payment Market  | Industry bodies

Shop.org | National Retail Federation division | forum for online retailers

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Payment Market  | Market Research & Publications

yStats.com | USA B2C E-commerce Report 2012 | North-America B2C E-commerce Report 2012

Reportlinker.com | US E-commerce Industry Report 2011 and many more