American Express 2005 Annual Report Download - page 18

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Commercial Cards
In the highly competitive corporate payments arena, we strengthened our position as the leading provider of
corporate cards, generating double-digit increases in commercial-card spending worldwide. Billings in the
global middle market — a key area of opportunity for our company — grew by 19 percent. Based on this
performance, we believe we gained share of commercial-card spending in the United States and in key inter-
national markets.
These results reflect our ability to provide dedicated service for corporations and their employees, targeted
savings programs, and global expense management solutions. In 2005, we enhanced our products and services
for large corporations and midsize businesses. For example, we:
■ added more rewards and features to American Express Business ExtrAA, a co-branded card with American
Airlines, which now offers rebates on all published American Airlines fares;
■ launched several new co-branded cards with airline and loyalty program partners, including Aeroplan,
Alitalia and British Airways, all of which offer midsize companies sizable discounts and rebates on air
travel; and
■ enhanced our data management capabilities, offering corporate clients new tools for analyzing and manag-
ing hotel costs, tracking global expenses and obtaining Value Added Tax refunds.
Merchant Services
We continued to broaden our global merchant network in 2005. We welcomed millions of new establish-
ments around the world, extended long-term partnerships with key accounts and expanded card acceptance
in emerging categories such as rent, recurring billing and quick-service restaurants. On average, during 2005
American Express added a new merchant location that accepts our cards every 16 seconds.
While giving our cardmembers more places and more ways to use their American Express cards will always
be important to us, we are just as focused on helping our merchant partners build their businesses. We deliver
higher-spending customers to their doors. For example, in the United States, average spending on American
Express cards is about four times higher than on MasterCard and Visa cards. Moreover, with our marketing
expertise and database capabilities, we work closely with merchants to create targeted offers for the American
Express cardmembers they most want to reach. In turn, our cardmembers benefit from the significant savings,
exclusive access, upgrades and other types of rewards that American Express provides.
In 2005, we continued to strengthen our partnerships with merchants and expand our broad array of incentive
programs such as My WishList, a seasonal online promotion that gives cardmembers access to many valuable
AXP / AR.2005
[16 ]
PARTNERING WITH MERCHANTS
Working closely with partners, we deliver
customized cardmember offers to help
merchants grow their businesses. On
average, during 2005 we added a new
merchant location to our network every
16 seconds, expanding card acceptance
globally and giving our cardmembers more
places and more ways to use their
American Express cards.