It’s no secret that retail and real estate have been disrupted over the past decade. Traditional retailers are learning to co-exist with e-commerce giants and satisfy the demands of the “I want it now” consumer.

Real estate companies on the other hand, are witnessing a paradigm shift in the way that both individuals and organisations use, rent, and buy property in an era of flexible workspaces and short-term leases. Navigating this on-and-offline landscape requires intelligence based on always-on data streams.

Impact of Location Intelligence in Retail and Real Estate

We’re excited to announce our latest venture with Mastercard to bring the power of Location Intelligence in Retail and Real Estate companies!

What does this mean?

  1. Mastercard Spend Data: A derivative data product that provides commercial and consumer insights based on aggregated and anonymised merchant transactions across a range of geographic levels for the last five years. For developers, designers, and data analysts working with custom location applications, Mastercard spend data is available through our Data Observatory, giving them the flexibility to use spend data in multiple use cases.
  2. Mastercard Retail Locations Insights (MRLI): A packaged solution for Retail and Real Estate decision-makers for use cases such as Site Selection, Property Valuation, and Marketing and Urban Planning. This is built on top of CARTO and powered by Mastercard Spend Data.

These offerings enable decision makers in Retail, Real Estate and Local Government to answer their most challenging questions, including:

  • How will nearby transit construction impact retail activity for merchants in a specific area?
  • Where are community development projects showing an economic impact?
  • What store format will perform in an area best given foot traffic and nearby merchants?
  • What economic impact will a new merchant have in a certain area?

In short, these new product and solution offers will help organisations better understand where, when, and how people are spending their money.

Related: What Online Retailers Can Learn by Mapping Sales Data

Aggregated and Anonymised Transaction Data

Committed to customer privacy in answering those questions, Mastercard developed a multi-step process that aggregates and anonymises transaction data from which insights are derived. These insights are based on a series of scores that rank the health and performance of specific retail locations. These scores take into account:

  • Sales: Total monthly sales
  • Growth: Increase in year-over-year sales
  • Stability: Performance compared to nearby retailers from previous year
  • Average ticket size: Average monthly transaction amount
  • Transactions: Total number of transactions in a month

The team at CARTO is excited to partner with one of the world’s largest financial services institutions to power location intelligence in retail and real estate businesses. This new GIS (geographic information system) will require new data streams for new users and new analyses, and this joint venture with Mastercard is a great way to do it.