美国运通CEO：阿里巴巴等5大平台左右未来支付方式

    我们正在采用新的支付方式，这一点已经很明显了。我们会用打车应用Uber支付出租车费，在Facebook上为个人定制产品结账，把电影下载到我们的亚马逊（Amazon）Kindle平板电脑上——而不用从钱包里抽出塑料信用卡。现在，肯•切诺特要确保让美国运通（American Express）在每笔交易中都占据中心地位。

    纽约Mobile-First峰会期间，我与这位首席执行官坐在一起，讨论了移动支付的未来。以下是我们谈话的内容概要，为了表述清晰，对话经过了一定编辑。

    《财富》：美国运通在移动领域的机遇有多大？

    切诺特：移动产品重新定义了线上和线下的商业活动。移动商务在电子商务中所占的比例大约是0.09%（编者注：即意味着电子商务只有不到1%的交易是通过移动设备完成的）。但到2017年，这个比例预计将达到26%，这还只是它在电子商务领域的渗透程度。

    这说的只是电子商务。我们什么时候才能不再区分电子或非电子商务，而简单地把它们都视为商务呢？

    一个巨大的机遇正在出现。移动设备会重新定义商业方式。史蒂夫•乔布斯重新定义了零售体验。我认为，商务和移动设备将会以指数增长的形式带来更加具有革命性的变化。初创公司有机会重新定义移动设备的力量，这真是不可思议。业务规模很重要，不过如果你有点子，你现在就可以联系那些能够驱动这种规模的公司。显然，现在有五大平台将会扮演举足轻重的角色，成为强大的力量：亚马逊（Amazon）、苹果（Apple）、谷歌（Google）、Facebook和阿里巴巴（Alibaba）。越来越多的初创公司将会与这些服务商合作，从而迅速扩大自己的规模。

    竞争格局将会发生什么变化？

    我认为，要明白支付业和商务即将经历翻天覆地的变化，这一点十分重要。大家正目睹着商务、移动设备和支付的界限日益模糊，线上和线下也开始整合。短期内，塑料信用卡并不会被淘汰。大家会看到支付公司之间产生分化。有些公司会维持现状，他们会专注于推动支付行业的发展。但这是错误的。他们最后会退化成一种商品。还会有一些公司将会注重全部的商业流程，我们就是其中之一。

    我来给你举个例子，告诉你支付行业已经发生的改变：Uber已经改变了支付的形式。那些基本的东西没有改变，但是这种体验是顺畅无缝的，你甚至都不知道你已经完成了支付。

    我们拥有最大的集成式全球支付平台。我们让用户、持卡者和商人聚在了一起，他们的数据具有无与伦比的价值。我们知道他们在哪里进行线上和线下消费。无论我们的持卡者希望在何时何地、用何种方式获得我们提供的实惠和服务，我们都希望能满足他们的需求。

    我们谈谈Uber吧。我用过它，今天早上我用谷歌地图导航到这个会场，发现谷歌地图可以让我选择使用Uber。作为一名消费者，我同时接触到谷歌品牌和Uber品牌。是的，我是用与Uber账户关联的美国运通卡付的钱，但是我没有看到美国运通的商标。这对运通来说是好是坏？

    对我们来说，这是一件好事，因为总之我们有一个广为人知的可靠品牌……“我想成为钱包中信用卡的第一选择”，和“我想让美国运通成为我的默认选择”，这个区别并不大。关键在于我们要提供实惠、服务和创新，来保证我们成为钱包中信用卡的首选。

    所以你谈的是交易和你所说的“过程”之间的区别。那个过程中包含什么？

    这就是关键点。我们可以注意一下移动设备的使用情况，在购物过程中使用移动设备的顾客购买东西的可能性会提高40%。想想人们会如何利用信息，如何参考他们从社交媒体网站上获得的推荐。关键在于了解商务过程中不同的元素。我们希望与我们的顾客同在。我们想要以顾客希望的方式为他们提供便利和实惠。这其实就是我在公司内部的一个关键理念：在这个环境中，要么创新，要么等死。我们要做不仅仅是盈利。

    诀窍之一是看看潮流的方向，从而理解系统性的变化。数码钱包风靡过吗？2011年，谷歌和Square等公司发布了这项功能。到2014年，在这方面的许多努力都没有奏效，人们还在不断尝试。数码钱包是不是已经宣告死亡了？

    我没觉得它们消亡了，不过你可以回顾我在2011年公开说过的话，我觉得这种钱包没有找到合适的价值定位。通过轻触屏幕来付款？这能真正解决什么难题呢？我能得到什么好处呢？在购物过程中，它帮到了我什么？总而言之，数码钱包的失败，在于它们没有专注于解决消费者的需求。

    We are paying for things in new ways; that much is clear. We're paying for taxi rides using our Uber app, checking out personally tailored offers on Facebook, and downloading films to our Amazon Kindles -- without ever pulling the plastic out of our wallets. Yet Ken Chenault plans to insure that American Express (AXP) remains in the center of every transaction.

    At the Mobile-First Summit in New York, I sat down with the chief executive to discuss the future of mobile payments. Below is a condensed version of our conversation, edited for clarity.

    Fortune: What is the scope of the mobile opportunity for American？

    Chenault: Mobile is redefining both online and offline commerce. The penetration of m-commerce in e-commerce was around 0.09% [Meaning that less than one percent of e-commerce transactions happened on mobile devices --Ed.]. By 2017, it's projected to be at 26% and that's just penetration in e-commerce.

    That's just e-commerce. When will we stop breaking it out and talk simply about commerce?

    What's happening is a gigantic opportunity. Mobile will redefine how commerce is done. Steve Jobs redefined the retail experience. I think commerce and mobile will do an even more transformational job in an exponential way. The opportunity for startups to redefine the power of mobile is incredible. Scale is important, but if you have the idea, you now have the ability to connect with companies that can drive that scale. Clearly there are five platforms that will play an important role and be very powerful: Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB), and Alibaba. More and more, startups will be able to connect to these services to scale quickly.

    How does the competitive landscape change?

    I think it's important to understand the payments industry and commerce is going through fundamental change. You are seeing a blurring of commerce, mobile, payments, and a convergence of online and offline. In the near term, plastic is not going to go away. You are going to see a demarcation between payment companies. There are going to be those that stay in the status quo, and they're going to focus on facilitating payments. That is a mistake. They will be reduced to a commodity. There will be those companies who will focus on the entire commerce journey, and that's us.

    I'll give you one example of how payments has changed: Uber has changed payments. Infrastructure hasn't changed at all, but the experience is frictionless and seamless, and you don't even know you're consummating a payment.

    We have the largest integrated global payments platform. We bring together users, card members, and merchants, and the data is incredibly valuable. We know where they spend online and offline. We want to deliver benefits and services when our card members want it, where, and how they want it.

    Let's talk about Uber. I use it, and just noticed this morning that when I pulled up Google Maps to get directions to this venue, the app offered me the option to call Uber. As a consumer, I was dealing with the Google brand and the Uber brand. Yes, I made the payment on my American Express card, which is linked to my Uber account, but the AmEx brand didn't come into my line of sight. Is that a good or a bad thing for AmEx?

    For us it's a good thing because at the end of the day we have a well-known and trusted brand ... here's not much of a difference between saying I want to be the first card in the wallet and saying I want to have AmEx as my default option. What is critical is the benefits, services, and innovation we provide so we're the first card in the wallet.

    So you're talking about the difference between the transaction and what you call "the journey." What's involved in that journey?

    Here's what's key. If we look at how mobile devices are used, people who use mobile devices in the shoppers' journey are 40% more likely to convert to sales. Think about how people use information, how they leverage recommendations they get from social media sites. The key is to understand the different elements of the commerce journey. We want to be where our customers are. We want to deliver them benefits in the way they want to have those benefits presented to them. It goes back to a key message I give in my organization: This is an environment where you innovate or die. We want to be the company that will put us out of business.

    Part of that is looking beyond the trends to understand systematic change. Were digital wallets a fad? In 2011, companies like Google and Square launched them. In 2014, many of those efforts haven't worked and are being retried. Are digital wallets dead?

    I don't think they're dead, but if you go back to what I said publicly in 2011, I didn't think these wallets met a value proposition. I'm going to tap to pay? What's the friction that it's really solving? What are the benefits that I'm getting? How is that helping me in my shopping journey? At the end of the day, the failure of wallets was not being focused enough on customer needs.