Merchant benchmarking tool

摘要

A benchmarking tool generates reports for delivery to a merchant illustrating a performance of the merchant as compared to the performance of the merchant's peers. The performance is illustrated through metrics that algorithmically combine data on transactions of consumers with the merchant or its peers, respectively. The metrics may be further subdivided into consumer groups such as new consumers, consumers that have shopped within the merchant in the past, consumers that no longer shop within the merchant, or consumers that use a commercial account to pay for purchases. The reports may be rendered in a graphical display for use by the merchant.

主权项

1. A computer implemented method comprising:
processing via a transaction processor handler a first transaction on an account issued to a first consumer by a first issuer, for a first merchant, the first merchant submitting the first transaction to a first acquirer, the first acquirer submitting the first transaction to the transaction processor handler; processing via the transaction processor handler a second transaction on an account issued to a second consumer by a second issuer, for a second merchant, wherein the second merchant is identified as a peer merchant in a similar line of business as the first merchant, the second merchant submitting the second transaction to a second acquirer, the second acquirer submitting the second transaction to the transaction processor handler; requesting, via the transaction processor handler, payment for the first transaction, wherein requesting includes requesting from the first issuer of the corresponding account for the first transaction payment for the first transaction and additionally includes a first customer identifier code different from an account identifier; requesting, via the transaction processor handler, payment for the second transaction, wherein requesting includes requesting from the second issuer of the corresponding account for the second transaction payment for the second transaction and additionally includes a second customer identifier code different from an account identifier; accumulating data from a plurality of first and second transactions; processing the accumulated data to assign a particular one of a plurality of distinct designations to each of a plurality of customer accounts, wherein a first of the distinct designations is a new customer designation and a second of the distinct designations is a lost to competitor designation; calculating from the accumulated data, via a computer:
a percentage change in transaction data for new customer accounts and lost to competitor accounts of the first merchant, wherein the first merchant is in a category of peer merchants; anda percentage change in transaction data for new customer accounts and lost to competitor accounts of the peer merchants; and generating a report including:
the percentage change in transaction data for the new customer accounts and the lost to competitor accounts of the first merchant; andthe percentage change in transaction data for the new customer accounts and the lost to competitor accounts of the peer merchants; and processing the accumulated data to generate:
purchase frequency and purchase recency metrics for accounts of the first merchant and the peer merchants having an existing customer designation;customer count growth and attracting competitor customers metrics for accounts of the first merchant and the peer merchants having the new customer designation;lost customers metrics for accounts of the first merchant and the peer merchants having a lost customer designation; andcustomers lost to competitors metrics for accounts of the first merchant and the peer merchants having the lost to competitor customer designation.