美國運通CEO 阿里巴巴等5大平臺左右未來支付方式

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.

我們正在採用新的支付方式，這一點已經很明顯了。我們會用打車應用Uber支付出租車費，在Facebook上爲個人定製產品結賬，把電影下載到我們的亞馬遜（Amazon）Kindle平板電腦上——而不用從錢包裏抽出塑料信用卡。現在，肯o切諾特要確保讓美國運通（American Express）在每筆交易中都佔據中心地位。

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.

紐約Mobile-First峯會期間，我與這位首席執行官坐在一起，討論了移動支付的未來。以下是我們談話的內容概要，爲了表述清晰，對話經過了一定編輯。

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

《財富》：美國運通在移動領域的機遇有多大？

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.

切諾特：移動產品重新定義了線上和線下的商業活動。移動商務在電子商務中所佔的比例大約是0.09%（編者注：即意味着電子商務只有不到1%的交易是通過移動設備完成的）。但到2017年，這個比例預計將達到26%，這還只是它在電子商務領域的滲透程度。

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

這說的只是電子商務。我們什麼時候才能不再區分電子或非電子商務，而簡單地把它們都視爲商務呢？

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.

一個巨大的機遇正在出現。移動設備會重新定義商業方式。史蒂夫o喬布斯重新定義了零售體驗。我認爲，商務和移動設備將會以指數增長的形式帶來更加具有革命性的變化。初創公司有機會重新定義移動設備的力量，這真是不可思議。業務規模很重要，不過如果你有點子，你現在就可以聯繫那些能夠驅動這種規模的公司。顯然，現在有五大平臺將會扮演舉足輕重的角色，成爲強大的力量：亞馬遜（Amazon）、蘋果（Apple）、谷歌（Google）、Facebook和阿里巴巴（Alibaba）。越來越多的初創公司將會與這些服務商合作，從而迅速擴大自己的規模。

How does the competitive landscape change?

競爭格局將會發生什麼變化？

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.

我認爲，要明白支付業和商務即將經歷翻天覆地的變化，這一點十分重要。大家正目睹着商務、移動設備和支付的界限日益模糊，線上和線下也開始整合。短期內，塑料信用卡並不會被淘汰。大家會看到支付公司之間產生分化。有些公司會維持現狀，他們會專注於推動支付行業的發展。但這是錯誤的。他們最後會退化成一種商品。還會有一些公司將會注重全部的商業流程，我們就是其中之一。

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.

我來給你舉個例子，告訴你支付行業已經發生的改變：Uber已經改變了支付的形式。那些基本的東西沒有改變，但是這種體驗是順暢無縫的，你甚至都不知道你已經完成了支付。

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.

我們擁有最大的集成式全球支付平臺。我們讓用戶、持卡者和商人聚在了一起，他們的數據具有無與倫比的價值。我們知道他們在哪裏進行線上和線下消費。無論我們的持卡者希望在何時何地、用何種方式獲得我們提供的實惠和服務，我們都希望能滿足他們的需求。

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?

我們談談Uber吧。我用過它，今天早上我用谷歌地圖導航到這個會場，發現谷歌地圖可以讓我選擇使用Uber。作爲一名消費者，我同時接觸到谷歌品牌和Uber品牌。是的，我是用與Uber賬戶關聯的美國運通卡付的錢，但是我沒有看到美國運通的商標。這對運通來說是好是壞？

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.

對我們來說，這是一件好事，因爲總之我們有一個廣爲人知的可靠品牌……“我想成爲錢包中信用卡的第一選擇”，和“我想讓美國運通成爲我的默認選擇”，這個區別並不大。關鍵在於我們要提供實惠、服務和創新，來保證我們成爲錢包中信用卡的首選。

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

所以你談的是交易和你所說的“過程”之間的區別。那個過程中包含什麼？

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.

這就是關鍵點。我們可以注意一下移動設備的使用情況，在購物過程中使用移動設備的顧客購買東西的可能性會提高40%。想想人們會如何利用信息，如何參考他們從社交媒體網站上獲得的推薦。關鍵在於瞭解商務過程中不同的元素。我們希望與我們的顧客同在。我們想要以顧客希望的方式爲他們提供便利和實惠。這其實就是我在公司內部的一個關鍵理念：在這個環境中，要麼創新，要麼等死。我們要做不僅僅是盈利。

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?

訣竅之一是看看潮流的方向，從而理解系統性的變化。數碼錢包風靡過嗎？2011年，谷歌和Square等公司發佈了這項功能。到2014年，在這方面的許多努力都沒有奏效，人們還在不斷嘗試。數碼錢包是不是已經宣告死亡了？

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.

我沒覺得它們消亡了，不過你可以回顧我在2011年公開說過的話，我覺得這種錢包沒有找到合適的價值定位。通過輕觸屏幕來付款？這能真正解決什麼難題呢？我能得到什麼好處呢？在購物過程中，它幫到了我什麼？總而言之，數碼錢包的失敗，在於它們沒有專注於解決消費者的需求。

But you think some efforts have worked?

但你認爲有些努力已經奏效了？

We acquired a platform called Revolution Money in 2009 at the height of the financial crisis. It is a very flexible alternative payments platform. We said, There's a large population of folks not being served -- there are 70 million people in this country who don't have a checking account or don't believe they're being served well. NerdWallet has said with prepaid cards, you're paying $300 a year to use your own money. With checking accounts, people are paying several hundred dollars a year if they don't have a minimum balance. So we came out with an online payment platform that works offline and online. In early 2014, once we got the platform stabilized, we brought on 2.4 million customers. In the month of April alone, we brought on 1 million customers. They're transacting volumes on our platform. Wallets, if they are done right, can work. Mobile apps will play an important role going forward.

我們在2009年金融危機高峯期收購了一個叫做Revolution Money的平臺。這是一個非常靈活、有多樣化選擇的支付平臺。我們說，還有許多人沒有享受到我們的服務——這個國家有7,000萬人口還沒有存款戶頭，或者不認爲他們得到了很好的金融服務。金融網站NerdWallet表示，使用借記卡就等於你每年要花300美元來用你自己的錢。如果人們存款賬戶中的錢沒有達到最低存款額度，每年就要支付幾百美元。所以我們研發了一個線下線上都能使用的在線支付平臺。2014年初，這個平臺開始平穩運營，隨即就擁有了240萬用戶。僅僅4月一個月，用戶數量就增加了100萬。他們在我們的平臺上進行交易。如果數碼錢包供應商能夠做出正確的決策，那麼錢包就還是可行的。移動應用在它們發展的過程中會起到很重要的作用。

We made further changes to the functionality of the platform so you can do anything you want -- pay bills, do peer-to-peer-payments, write checks. The term we coined in our company is that it is expensive to be poor. But we can develop a model where we have attractive economics, so instead of paying $14.95 a month for a prepaid card, you pay $1 a month with us for a far better service.

我們進一步改進了平臺的功能，這樣大家就可以做自己想做的任何事了——支付賬單、完成點對點付款、開支票。在公司中，我們總結出了一條規律：當窮人的代價是很大的。但是我們可以開發一個模式來吸引資金，於是大家就不必每個月爲預付卡花上14.95美元了。你可以與我們合作，每個月只付1美元，就能享受好得多的服務。

Peer-to-peer payments: How important is the capability?

點對點支付：這項功能有多重要？

It's very important, but what's critical is that you have got to connect peer-to-peer payments with a range of services that meet a variety of needs. As a standalone, it's difficult to generate the economics you need. But there's a very high demand. We looked at where spending takes place. Outside of credit cards and charge cards, there's $25 trillion out there. That's a tremendous opportunity.

它很重要，不過關鍵在於你需要將點對點支付與滿足各種需求的多項服務關聯起來。作爲單一的服務項目，它很難爲你帶來可觀的利潤。不過它有着很大的需求。我們瞭解了一下消費者把錢都花在哪裏了。在信用卡和簽帳卡之外，還有25萬億美元的市場。這是一個巨大的機遇。

You've done creative things with the AmEx loyalty program like recently making it possible for people to pay for a New York City cab ride with points. Are people actually using this service?

你在運通的忠誠度項目上有許多創新點，比如最近人們可以在紐約用積分搭計程車。人們真的在用這個服務嗎？

Yes! It is frictionless, and once people use it, 80% of the them return.

對！這項服務用起來很方便，人們一旦用過一次，80%都會再次使用。

(Audience member: "I'm worried it's a bad deal, that the points can be used better elsewhere.")

（一位聽衆表示：“我很害怕這項交易不合算，或許積分可以被用到更好的地方呢。”）

Here's what you're missing. Do you want to only use those points for airlines? People have said, "I want choice and convenience." If you just say for every dollar there's one point, people want a wide variety of choices.

那你就想錯了。你只想把那些積分用來坐飛機嗎？人們說：“我想要很多選擇，還想要省心。”如果你只是說，每一美元的消費會帶來一點積分，那麼人們會想要多種多樣的選擇。