American Express Business Insights Brings the Power of Consumer Spending Analytics to the UK

LONDON, April 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- American Express Business Insights, the analytics and consulting arm of American Express, today announced the expansion of its unique spend data analytics to businesses in the United Kingdom. Based on actual spending information of 90 million cardmembers in more than 125 global markets, American Express Business Insights' proprietary analyses provide businesses with critical, aggregated information about their customers, competitors and marketplace. The power to access, measure and monitor purchasing trends for both individual consumers and corporations, as well as across various demographic groups and regions, enables a new level of strategic planning for British businesses.

Sujata Bhatia, vice president of American Express Business Insights, Europe, will lead the efforts of the newly expanded analytics unit in the UK. Bhatia will be charged with helping UK-based businesses leverage American Express Business Insights by providing merchants a clear window into the wants and needs of their target consumer segments. By knowing where different types of consumers are spending money - and conversely where they are not purchasing - merchants can better position their business and develop strategies for growth.

"Our ability to quickly identify and interpret trends across our global network provides our customers with an unparalleled advantage in understanding their customer base and ultimately helps them make more strategic decisions," said Bhatia.

Businesses may leverage American Express Business Insights' spending data to assess a variety of consumer scenarios and determine, for example:

    
    - Consumer spending preferences before and after the recession;
    - Share of consumers' wallets within an industry or region;
    - Spending behaviours of consumers on holiday; or
    - The placement of a specific type of restaurant in a hotel.

Formally launched in the United States in November 2009, American Express Business Insights is housed within the American Express Global Merchant Services unit. Led by Senior Vice President Edmond Jay, Business Insights is already helping many of the world's largest retail, luxury, travel and hospitality brands to leverage consumer spending data to stay ahead of the competition and solve many of their most significant business issues.

The creation of American Express Business Insights and its global expansion is part of a larger strategic move at American Express to place greater emphasis on its role as a provider of services. "We think about the American Express network as a community of relationships between consumers, merchants, small businesses, corporate clients and issuing partners," added Bhatia. "Connecting these communities, and using our resources and capabilities for their benefit, has become American Express' true competitive advantage."

As part of its UK offerings, American Express Business Insights will provide products and solutions in four main areas:

    
    - Customer intelligence - understanding actual, aggregated purchasing
      behaviour;
    - Competitive intelligence - comparing performance against a set of
      competitors;
    - Market intelligence - understanding industry and marketplace trends;
      and
    - Marketing effectiveness - building, executing and analysing more
      effective marketing programmes.

In keeping with American Express' privacy principles, all data analysis is on an aggregate level and does not disclose any personally identifiable information to merchants or partners for marketing purposes.

For more information about the capabilities of American Express Business Insights, visit: https://businessinsights.americanexpress.com/.

About American Express Business Insights

As part of the Global Merchant Services organisation within American Express Company, American Express Business Insights provides in-depth, actionable insights into consumer and business spending at the business, industry and geographic levels, leveraging proprietary transaction data from the American Express network of approximately 90 million cards in force across over 125 markets.

    
    For further information, please contact:

    American Express
    Todd Beavis
    Telephone: 012-7321-8282 or 07850-326-876
    Email: todd.a.beavis@aexp.com

    Kwittken & Company
    Caleb Hulme-Moir
    Telephone: 020-7259-1776 or 07866-707-262
    Email: chulme-moir@kwitco.com