American Express’ Shop Small promotion launched today for their small business cards only for the fall. At least, from all indications this appears to be for the business cards only as we have not seen it on any of our personal cards nor amongst the chatter in the forums.
What is Shop Small?
If you are unfamiliar with Amex’s Shop Small, these are merchants that accept Amex that are not major retailers like your Sobeys, Staples, Walmart type of stores. These are more of your mom and pop, independent small businesses, food trucks and so on. Each and every year American Express supports their Small Business partners globally with these Shop Small promotions to encourage cardmembers to go out and shop at these retailers.
The American Express Shop Small Promotion
The promotion offers registered Cardmembers a $5 statement credit each time they spend $10 or more in one transaction at participating Shop Small merchants. You can earn the credit up to 5x from 5 different participating small business locations or online businesses for a total of $25 in statement credits.
There are the American Express Small Business Cards that may be eligible for this promotion:
- American Express Business Edge™ Card
- The Business Platinum Card from American Express
- American Express® Business Gold Rewards Card
- American Express Aeroplan Business Reserve Card
- Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card
Promotion Timeline
This offer runs until November 30, 2023.
Finding Shop Small merchants
To find participating retailers you can go to Amex’s Shop Small map page which is great for searching for the non-major retailers that accept Amex. Simply look for the Shop Small logo beside a merchant name!
You can also utilize our complete Cobalt Confirmed Multipliers list as that lists hundreds of merchants that are confirmed to accept American Express. I also recommend reading Rewards Canada’s step by step guide to the American Express Shop Small Program
Tips to Maximize the Shop Small offer
Ideally, those looking to maximize the offer will only spend $10 at each location to come out with what is essentially a 50% discount in the form of a statement credit, but I know for me, I don’t even think about that. I’ll simply go to my local merchant and buy what I need whether it is $10, $30 or $300. I will however consider spending more if I am only at $7 and I’ll look to see if there is anything else I can grab to get to $10 since I’ll be getting the $5 back – and that is the gist of this promotion. Getting you to spend a little more at these merchants to support small local businesses!
Registering for the offer
You can register for the Shop Small promotion via Amex Offers on the app or the Amex Canada website. Once logged in, go to the ‘Amex Offers’ section to see the offer and simply click ‘Register your Card’ If you do not see the offer listed, it is either not available for the card(s) you have or it means the enrollment cap has already been reached. Only the first 15,000 Cards to be successfully registered, are eligible for the offer.
Wrapping it up
This is Amex’s second Shop Small promo for 2023, the first was for Scotia issued cards earlier in the summer and now this business card offer. Hopefully we’ll see one for the consumer cards soon – perhaps Amex will time it perfectly for the Christmas and holiday shopping season? We’re keeping our fingers crossed.