Merchant Advisory

The Merchant Advisory Group (MAG) was founded in 2008 by a small visionary group of merchants in the payments field dedicated to driving positive change and innovation in the payments industry through multi-stakeholder collaboration, education, and advocacy. The MAG represents 150 of the largest U.S. merchants which account for over $4.8 Trillion in annual sales at over 580,000 locations across the U.S. and online. Roughly $3.5 Trillion of those sales and over 100 Billion card payments are electronic which represents approximately 62%* of total U.S. card volume. MAG members employ over 14 million associates. *Source of Total U.S. card volumes: Federal Reserve Payments Study 2019 Mission: Driving positive change and innovation in the payments industry that serve the merchants’ interests through collaboration, education and advocacy. Vision: An improved and equitable payments ecosystem. The MAG is a key participant in industry events and ensures that the merchant voice is a part of the critical and timely dialogue surrounding evolving payments and related matters. *The MAG actively engages with other prominent merchant trade associations in order to enhance and leverage the merchants’ voice in payments issues. * The MAG regularly attends most of the largest payments industry and network-hosted events and often is the sole representative of the merchant voice. * The MAG participates in a variety of meetings sponsored by regional Federal Reserve Banks, and is a member of the Fed’s Mobile Payments Industry Workgroup.