American ExpressJames Lee (jajulee)

Brief History

1850 1882

Establishment

Money Order

1891

Traveler’s Check

1958. . .

First Credit Card

1978

IPO

. . .

Problems to Solve

How to provide premium financial services to incentive consumer spending

How to provide a comfortable and secure payment medium for travelers

Core Products

Card Products

Non-Card Products

Hidden Products or Secret Sauce

Prestige

Perks

Business Model

Closed Loop

Higher Merchant Fees

Charge Card

Financials (NYSE:AXP)

Financials (NYSE:AXP)

Revenue vs. Return

Comparison ChartAmerican Express

Visa, Mastercard

Chase, Citi Debit/Bank

Venmo, PayPal

Universal Acceptance

Prestige

Online Platforms

Closed Loop Model

Low User Cost

Future/Outlook

Despite Costco fallout, users are spending more than ever ~7% increase

Growing customer and merchant base (~10 Million new cards and ~1 Million new merchants in 2016)

Weak technology and “secret sauce” base

References

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/23/revenue-and-earnings-fall-at-american-express.aspx

https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/02/21/the-14-billion-difference-how-visa-mastercard-and.aspx

https://image.slidesharecdn.com/americanexpresscompany-aresearchbyhassankhan-150427141841-conversion-gate02/95/american-express-company-a-research-by-hassan-khan-6-638.jpg?cb=1430144448

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Express#Non-card_products

https://www.google.com/search?q=american+express+card+visa&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiynPCc06DSAhUEOCYKHeEFAQcQ_AUICCgB&biw=841&bih=611#imgrc=6V6SCkz9i7S9HM: