Adelphos

The past 20 or so posts are bewildering

1) Amex Platinum is one of Amex's most popular cards. You can get the card with FICO scores in the 600s. It is not an exclusive card and hasn't been for 10+ years

2) Plenty of people who pay high annual fees for credit cards also shop at places like Wal Mart. There are Wal Marts in a lot of affluent suburbs across the country. I know Target, Coscto are considered more upscale but plenty of travelers probably go to Wal Mart

3) It seems like for some, they got value out of Amex Platinum being a card for "affluent travelers" and that any benefit not focused on travel injures their pride in owning the card, regardless of the benefit costs them anything extra

dw

That’s assuming there is still any “status” associated with the card ;-)

GTITAN

Perhaps, you are correct, but at least to me, I tend not to make economic decisions based on "luxury branding," but rather the value extended by the item of consideration. Perhaps, most people just have AMEX Plt because they appreciate AMEX not for its economic value but for its "implied social status." I can only say I am not one of them. I have it for its economic value to me and the good and services which I can unlock with it YMMV.

Safe Travels

josephstern

In thinking more about this, I do see the logic of a company like Amex giving out benefits to vendors as disparate as Equinox and Walmart.

Amex can then claim to be offering $X in potential discounts, but they know full well that no single customer is likely to be taking advantage of both the Equinox and Walmart discounts, so they have a pretty good notion of their total exposure.

Not to mention that this Walmart+ add could be even more than 100% paid for by Walmart.

It's like giving elite status to those who never travel. What does it cost you?

Boraxo

Love to see the empirical data supporting 1 and 2. I don't know anybody who shops at Wal Mart but maybe that's because I live in a wealthy suburb and most of the people I know are snobs like me LOL. I can count on one hand the number of times I've visited WM and each time it is a terrible experience.

I strongly doubt there are many high-AF cardholders who fall below the median income. Heck I know a lot of high income ones that refuse to apply for these cards even when I tout the SUBs. Intuitively it doesn't make sense that an average Joe is going to pay AFs of $550-695 for a few travel perks when they need that money for other expenses.

As for 3, I'm a new cardholder and I have zero pride in carrying any card except for JPM Reserve, which is somewhat exclusive. And I don't even use that one all that much anymore as the ROI for everyday spend is better on other cards.

gengar

But that's what happens when changing the product's strategy to the coupon book model. It provides outsize value to the segment of the population that happens to be able to utilize the coupons sufficiently.

I don't think anyone would ever consider a coupon book a "premium product".

Boraxo

It isn't. And it is why people are going to be dumping these high AF cards. Many of us don't have time to jump through all the hoops, as I explained earlier. I got the card for the SUB and Amex lounge access. It is easy to justify another year on a low AF card (e.g. Hyatt) where use of the free night is easy. Much less so for cards that cost almost 10x more and require me to jump through hoops every month to get a changing menu of small dollar credits.

jags86

Re: 1 It’s an assumed fact round these parts that AMEX doesn’t have different credit standards for its Green/Gold/Platinum lines. AMEX charge cards are typically less stringent credit wise because they aren’t offering traditional line of credit.

Re: 2 I think there are two types of folks who have high annual fee cards—high earning status seekers and young people looking to maximize. I bet there are a fair amount of low income 22-25 year olds with Platinum cards who are maxing out bonuses through a variety of “creative” ways. Regarding Walmart, a lot of affluent people shop there. For many who live in place like North Carolina, for example, thats the most convenient place to go grocery shopping.

Doppy

When AmEx added Equinox people complained that it was too glamorous and only in a few major cities. Now they might add Walmart, which is everywhere but those major cities and it's too low brow.

This is the most Goldilocks crowd. If you don't like a benefit, the easiest thing to do is not use it.

Global Adventurer

A lot of these offers aren't in all cities, and also what about international travel? It's hard to use most of these Like most hotel offers are only for the US. I think they need more international offers. Right now it's basically $200 airline misc credit and $200 Hotel credit, oh and the lounge benefit.

dw

The Plat, like the CSR, is a mass market card- we’re not talking about the Centurion here. I definitely know of married couples making $300-$400k combined (definitely in the demographics for the Plat) who live in the suburbs and will shop at Walmart. (To be clear, they’ll shop at a lot of places, but they won’t consider it beneath them to go to Walmart from time to time.)

TravelingZoomer

With Walmart+ you’ll never set foot in a Walmart. You get everything delivered to you it’s basically them trying to compete with Amazon. Is Amazon beneath the Amex plat user?

Super Mario

Many don't realize that Walmart as the #1 retailer, does as much business as the #2-4 combined. Through the law of averages, no matter how high and mighty the AMEX users here think they are, many wealthy customers shop at Walmart. I personally know a few well-off individuals who shop there almost exclusively. The low price, convenience, and large selection is attractive as are warehouse clubs. Just because you have money, doesn't mean you must shop at Whole Foods. All Walmarts are not created equally either. There are actually many very nice Walmarts.

It's crazy how many people still don't have the slightest clue around the business model of the coupon book. They think AMEX is offering value out of the kindness of their hearts to create value through hand-selected brands. What they've done is created an exclusive channel for other companies to advertise in a different way. Walmart+ is a convenience service. What kind of clientele wants to pay for this? How would Walmart+ successfully market to them? Notice that most of these AMEX offers are things not relatively high in demand. It's not like they are giving you an iPhone upgrade each year. This kind of relationship usually would have companies like AMEX paying little to nothing to offer this and/or collecting commissions/royalties from residual sales.

MojoGuru

American Express created a culture and branding, with change comes growing pains.

MojoGuru

And there are rich people who prefer thrift stores, over the new price tags at Walmart. Mark Zuckerberg drives a $30,000 car, and shops at Costco. Warren Buffett lives in the same house that he bought for $31,500 in 1958, and budgets $3 for breakfast at McDonalds. The frugal wealthy are unlikely to have any interest in the Platinum Card.

Warren Buffett has had the Amex Green card for decades. We'll see if a Walmart+ subscription finally sways him over...