American Express and Patch Partner to 'Serve' Communities, Small Businesses

Editor's Note: The following is a press release from Patch and American Express. 

NEW YORK – American Express and AOL's Patch have entered into a strategic partnership to offer Serve, a robust, next-generation digital payment and commerce platform, to millions of Patch customers, it was announced today. Users will be able to sign up for Serve accounts via hundreds of Patch sites this fall.

As part of its recently launched Patch Deals platform, Patch, the hyperlocal arm of AOL Huffington Post Media Group, will offer users the ability to redeem local deals and transact with local merchants via the American Express network.

Through the partnership, local merchants will be able to post offers online in a more streamlined, effective way, and consumers will benefit by redeeming offers at the point of sale.In addition to the comprehensive editorial content on its over 800 sites, Patch provides a platform for local businesses to connect with their target customers. Patch currently features over 850,000 small business listings.

Patch users may be offered Serve accounts that will include a co-branded card, which can be used to redeem local merchant deals offline – meaning no coupons to print or codes to remember. In partnering with Patch, Serve aims to dramatically expand its consumer reach to the millions of users in Patch communities nationwide.

"Our collaboration with AOL's Patch increases the scale and reach of the Serve platform and helps bridge the divide between online commerce and offline deals in a way that benefits merchants and consumers," said Dan Schulman, Group President, Enterprise Growth, American Express. "This partnership showcases the breadth of the capabilities of the Serve platform to make digital payments hassle-free, user-friendly and part of the norm – and now through our work with Patch, we can add locally relevant to that list." 

"Through this simple yet fresh way of redeeming local deals, Patch and Serve will offer users an even stronger connection to their communities and the businesses in their area," commented Warren Webster, president of Patch Media. "We are proud to partner with Amex given their reputation for innovation in the marketplace, and are eager to see how our collaboration may further benefit our collective consumers."

Patch Deals launched in select communities in early June, and is designed to help residents save money on local high-quality goods and services and to help small- and medium-sized merchants connect with their target customers, promote their products, and drive foot traffic.