MasterCard's Data-Driven Product Suite Provides Actionable BI for Hospitality Organizations

MasterCard Worldwide recently introduced MasterCard Advisors Merchant Solutions. This suite of information products, data analytics and marketing services will enable decision makers across merchant organizations to understand spending activity in their industry category; evaluate their sales performance against their competitive set; and focus direct marketing efforts to target the very best prospects and hard to reach segments. This offering underscores the information power of the MasterCard Worldwide Network, the strong merchant relationships of MasterCard's U.S. Commerce Development function, and the expertise of MasterCard Advisors, the company's professional services arm, to provide merchants with actionable business intelligence that can inform strategy and marketing decisions.

Tapping into MasterCard Advisors' unique capabilities, this suite of information and marketing solutions was developed by the application of advanced analytic and/or behavioral modeling techniques to reported activity in various channels of the MasterCard Worldwide Network. Advisors Merchant Solutions robust reporting, modeling and consumer behavioral segmentation capabilities are based on the billions of transactions processed each year from across the 340 million MasterCard-branded credit, charge and debit cards issued in the United States. Reporting also incorporates estimates of sales by all other payment forms in retail sectors (cash, check, debit, charge and credit card sales across all networks), thus providing a complete view of retail activity at both a national and local level.

Advisors Merchant Solutions suite is made up of three distinct components:

• SpendingPulse is a macro-economic indicator reporting on national sales. Based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network coupled with survey-based estimates for certain other payment forms such as cash and check, it has come to be one of the timeliest and most accurate sources of information about consumer spending activity. Sector reports include those on Airlines, Specialty Retail and Apparel, Auto Parts and Tire Sales, eCommerce, Electronics & Appliances, Furniture & Furnishings, Gasoline, Hotels & Lodging, Jewelry, Luxury, Restaurant and Department Stores.
• Benchmark Analytics is a web-based application that delivers behaviorally-based competitive intelligence by analyzing merchant performance against the industry category and/or a set of competitors, nationally by state, all the way down to defined MSAs or DMAs. The insights can inform critical decision making on advertising/marketing, buying and merchandising, and retail operations.
• Custom Marketing Solutions identifies cardholders of participating banks that represent the best prospects for merchant marketing offers. Leveraging actual behavioral data to identify best prospects, and developing tailored offers geared to specific target segments, merchants can efficiently drive customer acquisition, win back lapsed customers and increase spend.