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money for little work. Reddish said he TMR is seeking to expand nationally. from September 2013 to October 2013,
and Pinkhasov thought the same thing "What we're looking to do is cookie- signaling a surge in shopping that
at first. "Looking back on it, we were cutter branch platforms around the bodes well for a profitable holiday sea-
thinking so small," Reddish said. "We're country, where people can become self son for retailers.
very happy just to have him involved. sufficient and build their own books
Good will is priceless. And it's very of business," Reddish said. "We offer First Data reported dollar volume
hard to establish. And the celebrity of aggressive enough splits where you're growth in October was 6.8 percent,
his name and his credibility, you just piggybacking off of our relationships. up from 5.3 percent in September. The
can't put a price tag on that." The amount of money you would be Atlanta-based acquirer said the growth
making on our split is more than the was a result of cooler temperatures
Expanding beyond the pond
amount of money you would make nationwide, which drove sales of
Reddish said TMR, which processes at 100 percent trying to do it on your seasonal merchandise. With fewer days
payments via North American Bancard, own." in the 2013 holiday shopping season,
is in the process of becoming a full-risk retailers started advertising deals
ISO. TMR opened its doors in July 2011 SpendTrend earlier this year that, in consequence,
and has reportedly provided over $2.8 may have attracted foot-traffic into
their stores, according to First Data.
time. TMR's goal is to become a super numbers bolster
million in funding to merchants in that
ISO by leveraging O'Leary's influence SpendTrend, which is a monthly
and contacts to land larger processing holiday optimism macro-economic report based on
contracts from larger merchants. aggregate same-store sales activity
from merchants that process via First
espite a contrary federal
Since doing the show, TMR has been government and a tepid Data, also charted a bounce-back in
inundated with new business and economy, First Data Corp. retail spending. Retail dollar volume
other inquiries. "In one week we've D is reporting good news as growth in October rose to 5.6 percent,
two percentage points higher than
gotten the equivalent of about seven the holiday shopping season ramps September's 3.6 percent growth.
months worth of business," Pinkhasov up in the United States. Based on its "Retail spending growth accelerated
said. SpendTrend analysis of electronic
payment data, consumer spending toward the end of the month as the
government shutdown ended and
With O'Leary's resources under sail, increased by over one percentage point
shoppers regained confidence," First
Data said.

"Consumer spending growth gained
momentum in October, which should
provide retailers with an optimistic
outlook heading into the holiday
season," said Krish Mantripragada,
First Data's Senior Vice President,
Information and Analytics Solutions.
"Retailers should expect holiday
spending to be modestly stronger
compared to last year barring any
number of external events that could
negatively impact sales such as poor
weather or geopolitical events at home
or abroad."
Further SpendTrend statistics
supported First Data's overall
optimism. All retail sub-categories
showed positive year-over-year dollar
volume growth, the acquirer said.
Spending growth at clothing and
general merchandise retailers hit 4.1
percent and 4.9 percent respectively.
This time last year, those retailers
experienced only 0.9 percent and 2.9
percent growth respectively. "Gas
prices also continued to moderate
which likely lifted discretionary
purchasing power," First Data said.
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