Credit Card Issuers Focus on Wealthy with More Premium Card Offers.Change in direct marketing strategy a good sign for credit card industry CHICAGO Chicago, city, United States Chicago (shĭkä`gō, shĭkô`gō), city (1990 pop. 2,783,726), seat of Cook co., NE Ill., on Lake Michigan; inc. 1837. -- If you're you're Contraction of you are. you're you are you're be an affluent American, chances are you've seen more premium credit card* offers in your mailbox A simulated mailbox in the computer that holds e-mail messages. Mailboxes are stored on disk as a file of messages, a database of messages or as an individual file for each message. The standard mailboxes are usually In, Out, Trash and Junk (Spam). recently. Mintel Comperemedia, a service that provides direct marketing competitive intelligence, reports credit card issuers are advertising more premium credit cards in an effort to attract the best customers. In Q2 2009, credit card issuers sent 28% more marketing direct mail offers for premium cards than they did the quarter before. This occurred while issuers reduced credit card offers as a whole by 8%. Even more, credit card companies sent a steady number of premium card offers since early 2008 while slashing slash·ing adj. 1. Bitingly critical or satiric: slashing wit. 2. Dashing; pelting: a slashing hailstorm. 3. direct mail for general cards. In the first half of 2009, premium cards accounted for one in five (19%) mail campaigns tracked by Mintel Comperemedia, an increase from just one in 10 (9%) in the first half of 2008. Andrew Davidson, senior vice president of Mintel Comperemedia, comments: "Credit card companies are competing to attract people with high credit scores and big spending habits. Because premium credit cards often have high associated fees and low risk, issuers see them as an excellent way to restore profitability in today's economy." Credit card issuers are also competing by introducing new premium cards. High profile cards launched since beginning of the downturn Downturn The transition point between a rising, expanding economy to a falling, contracting one. downturn A decline in security prices or economic activity following a period of rising or stable prices or activity. include Chase Sapphire sapphire, precious stone. A transparent blue corundum, it is classified among the most valuable of gems. Sapphires are found chiefly in Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar and also in Australia and in the United States (in Montana). , the Visa Black Card and the American Express American Express (NYSE: AXP), sometimes known as "AmEx" or "Amex", is a diversified global financial services company, headquartered in New York City. The company is best known for its credit card, charge card and traveler's cheque businesses. Hilton Honors Surpass Card. Andrew Davidson sees the focus on premium cards as positive: "Credit card issuers are beginning to expand with more credit and products for the affluent. It won't be long before this trickles down and we start seeing greater credit card marketing to all consumers." *Defined as MasterCard World or Visa Signature About Mintel Comperemedia Mintel Comperemedia provides competitive intelligence for businesses looking to advance and improve their direct marketing strategy. Tracking direct marketing (including mail, email and print advertising) targeted at consumers, small businesses and insurance agents, Mintel Comperemedia offers a unique perspective on everything from banking trends to insurance trends to credit card statistics. For more than 35 years, Mintel has provided insight into key worldwide trends, leading the industry for consumer, product and media intelligence. Follow Mintel on Twitter A Web site and service that lets users send short text messages from their cellphones to a group of friends. Launched in 2006, Twitter (www.twitter.com) was designed for people to broadcast their current activities and thoughts. : http://twitter.com/mintelnews |
|
|||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion