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American Express is replacing its limited-time “Shop Small” promotions with a year-round initiative which it says will further support small businesses.
Amex Shop Small will now be available every day, but it will work a bit differently. Instead of getting a limited number of cashback offers when spending at participating small businesses, Amex cardholders will instead earn 3 extra points per dollar spent at all participating businesses over the next year.
In total, Amex cardholders will be able to earn up to 40,000 extra points until 31 March 2022 through Shop Small. There are some exclusions; for example, gift card purchases and spend on additional cards are ineligible.
Thousands more businesses are now participating in Amex Shop Small as well, including all merchants that process transactions using Square payment terminals.
A map on the Amex website shows bricks & mortar businesses participating in Shop Small. There’s also a directory of online businesses where you can earn 3 bonus points per dollar spent for the next year.
To earn bonus points via Shop Small, Amex cardholders will need to first save the Shop Small offer to their eligible card.
American Express Australia Vice President of Small and Medium Enterprises, Lisa Belcher, emphasised the need for Australians to get behind small businesses as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 crisis.
“That’s why Shop Small is returning all-year round to remind shoppers that if they want to see these businesses survive, they have to take action and spend with them regularly,” Belcher said.
“Shop Small” began in 2013 as a limited-time annual promotion that would run for a few months per year, generally in the lead-up to Christmas. Since then, American Express says its card members have contributed more than $6 billion to Australian small businesses through Shop Small.
Last year, a limited-time Shop Small promotion ran from June until August allowing Amex cardholders to get $5 cashback, up to a total of $50 throughout the whole campaign, when spending at least $10 at a participating small business.
The new Shop Small with bonus points is replacing these kinds of cashback offers. With the new initiative, there is a possibility to earn a total of 40,000 bonus points – which is worth much more than $50 – but you would have to spend a lot more overall to earn the maximum bonus amount.
Amex will continue to offer cash back via Amex Offers.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: New Amex Shop Small program – earn 3 bonus points per $1 year-round
