Visa Europe has followed the old Victor Kiam mantra of “liking it so much I bought the company” by taking a minority stake in its analytics supplier, customer insight group Beyond Analysis.
The investment will strengthen Visa Europe’s data analytics capabilities and forms part of its strategy to deliver increased value for consumers, retailers and banks through electronic payments.
Over £1 in every £4 spent in the UK is spent on a Visa debit, credit or prepaid card, and over 11 billion transactions are processed from across Europe, meaning Visa has huge insight into consumer spending patterns. A key feature of Visa Europe’s data analytics is that all cardholder information is anonymous and does not include personal or private details.
Visa Europe chief marketing officer Mariano Dima will join the Beyond Analysis board as part of the investment.
The deal will deepen Beyond Analysis’ work with Visa Europe to help manage loyalty programmes and provide advanced analytics and insight based on the spending patterns captured in card transactions processed by Visa.
This insight can help retailers and banks to engage with new and existing customers, providing access to a comprehensive source of information based on Visa card transaction history. It can enable banks and retailers to better segment and target their marketing efforts and drive brand loyalty, purchase behaviour and traffic.
Visa Europe president and chief executive Peter Ayliffe said: “This reflects Visa Europe’s commitment to redefining its relationship with retailers, helping them to build stronger relationships with customers and secure increased market share. Enhanced data analytics forms a key part of our vision for the future of payments alongside new technology such as mobile payments and e-wallets.”
