Neither announcement was much in itself.
American Express's splashed plans to launch a new cobranded Amazon credit card for small businesses in the US. ATPI reported that Ticket Window, its fare aggregation system, now included NDC air content not currently available on the GDS. This is in addition to APIs already existing with partners and low cost carriers.
So another new credit card. Another TMC offering NDC content.
Both initiatives emphasise how suppliers are looking at offerings they believe their markets want and how their markets' expectations of distribution are changing.
It's not just evolving market tastes which are forcing American Express to create new opportunities. A ruling in Europe earlier this year that the financial services company had to reduce its merchant fees to the same level as those having separate issuing banks means that it must replace the shortfall in revenue. One way is by raising the volume of business. One more partner might do that.
This co-branded card, however, is not aimed at sports fans or frequent travellers. It is aimed directly at SMEs and it may be co-branded but it is a business product which "includes an enhanced data solution that gives businesses in the US greater insight into their purchasing activity".
There is continued evidence to demonstrate that business behaviour follows consumer behaviour. No website has been more influential in shaping consumer expectations than Amazon. No matter what you want, it can be found and options easily comparable before you decide among different suppliers and the total cost of the transaction.
Buyers from all kinds of company also want the closest possible thing to full content and the ability to compare it as well as the ability to analyse it. For small business that might now mean Amazon. Travel buyers also want the closest possible thing to full content and the ability to compare it and analyse it. ATPI is in the ranks of those TMCs allowing corporates to have content beyond that on the GDS.
There is more agreement among businesses as to what markets want and need than there is about who is going to develop the solutions.
Suppliers will develop products that will fulfil their corporate strategies whether it is Amex looking for additional volumes or ATPI looking for more transactions. Suppliers have to be cognisant of market demand but their first responsibility will always be to their shareholders and especially their expectations from balance sheets and P&Ls.
That means they will respond to market demand but not necessarily in the way every member of that market would like.
There is an increasing trend for businesses to use the cloud for their IT Solutions such as SaaS make sense given the cost of investing in new technology v its expected life expectancy. It is looming larger on corporate horizons.