COVID-19 Fast-Forwarded Online ‘Engagement’ 18-24 Months: Amex

American Express estimates the pandemic accelerated “preexisting trends” in e-commerce “engagement levels” by 18 to 24 months, Doug Buckminster, vice chairman and president-global consumer services group, told an Autonomous Research investor conference Friday. “We're very focused on continuing to win as that commerce digitizes.” When Buckminster started working on the Amex consumer business about six years ago, “I remember there being tons of anxiety among investors” about the brand’s “generational relevance” with younger demographics, he said. More than 70% of new American Express customer “acquisitions” since this pandemic began are millennial or Generation Z accounts, he said. The “common wisdom” 10 years ago “was if you want to do business with younger customers, you needed a low-priced, easy, yes-type of product that people would trial and then you could kind of bring them up, and I think what we've learned over the last decade is that's not necessarily true,” he said. “Some of our premium products, Platinum and Gold, have the richest mix of Gen Z and millennials.”