Before the Great Recession, Synchrony was part of
Q: Can you give us a state of the consumer from your perspective, since you work with a lot of retailers? What are people spending their money on these days?
A: We feel pretty bullish about the consumer right now. They are in good shape and their balance sheets are strong, which is translating into a really good spend on our cards so far this year. In the pandemic, consumers spent less on travel, entertainment and dining, so they had money to pay down debt.
But the biggest impact on us isn't the consumer's financial health right now. The supply chain issue is really impacting our partners. We are hearing from partners who sell appliances or sports equipment that they could sell if they had the inventory. It's turning into fewer purchases being put on cards because consumers are having difficulty buying some items.
Q: There's been a lot of interest in ‘buy now, pay later’ programs through companies like Affirm or
A: Our strategy is really to have this comprehensive suite of products to offer our retail partners and customers because, at the end of the day, both our partners and our customers want choice. Some may want to put a purchase on a 12-month payment plan while others may want to maintain a balance. But what our partners really like about our products is they allow them to have more of an ongoing relationship with the customer, so they can do things like marketing or do promotions and offers over the course of the year. It allows them to build a long-term relationship with the customer.
Q: You took over
A: Very early in my tenure, we reorganized the company into five sales platforms: digital retailers, health and wellness, home and auto, lifestyle retailers and other retailers like
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