Industry Size of Wallet

• US 20080133322A1
• Filed: 12/07/2006
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Crotty, Karlyn Heiner, Fusillo, Iwao, Kalia, Prashant
• Granted Patent: US 8,239,250 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

Consumer spend by industry is modeled based on the industry sizes of wallet of consumers having a high share of wallet with a financial institution. A size of wallet is calculated for each consumer in a plurality of consumers. A share of wallet for each consumer is also calculated. A subset of the plurality of consumers whose share of wallet is above a given percentage of their size of wallet is then determined. For each consumer in the subset, an industry size of wallet is determined. A correlation between the industry size of wallet of a given consumer and one or more characteristics of the given consumer is then derived using the industry size of wallet for the consumers in the subset.

Claims

1. A method for modeling consumer spend by industry, comprising:

calculating a size of wallet for each consumer in a plurality of consumers;

calculating a share of wallet for each consumer;

determining a subset of the plurality of consumers whose share of wallet is above a given percentage of their size of wallet;

determining an industry size of wallet for each consumer in the subset; and

deriving a correlation between an industry size of wallet of a given consumer and one or more characteristics of the given consumer using the industry size of wallet for the consumers in the subset.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

calculating a share of wallet comprises calculating a share of wallet associated with a given financial institution; and

determining a subset of the plurality of consumers comprises identifying consumers whose share of wallet associated with the financial institution is greater than approximately 90%.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining an industry size of wallet comprises:

determining the amount of spend within the industry using one or more accounts associated with a financial institution; and

equating the amount of spend within the industry with the industry size of wallet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics of the consumer include at least one of:

total size of wallet of the consumer;

residence location;

credit bureau tenure;

age;

gender;

household size; and

number of active transaction cards in a household of the consumer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein deriving a correlation comprises:

identifying consumers having substantially similar industry sizes of wallet; and

examining spend habits of the identified consumers to ascertain common characteristics that influence spend in the industry.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the industry is one of a travel industry, a restaurant industry, or an everyday spend industry.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the industry is an airline industry, a lodging industry, or a vehicle rental industry.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

developing a model based on correlations between the industry size of wallet and the characteristics of the consumer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein developing a model comprises:

assigning a weight to each of the characteristics.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the characteristic is a residential location, and assigning a weight comprises:

computing an average industry size of wallet per zip code using a zip code and industry size of wallet for each consumer in the subset; and

assigning a weight for each zip code based on the average industry size of wallet per zip code.

11. A method of targeting consumers, comprising:

calculating a total share of wallet associated with a financial institution for one or more consumers;

estimating an industry size of wallet of each consumer;

calculating an external size of the industry size of wallet of each consumer; and

targeting one or more consumers having a relatively high external size of the industry size of wallet and a given minimal total share of wallet with offers to increase their industry share of wallet associated with the financial institution.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein estimating an industry size of wallet of each consumer comprises:

calculating an industry size of wallet using characteristics of the consumer that are indicative of industry spend.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein calculating an industry size of wallet of each consumer comprises:

assigning a weight to each characteristic of the consumer based on an industry size of wallet model; and

totaling the weighted characteristics for the consumer to produce an industry size of wallet for the consumer.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating an external size of the industry size of wallet of the consumer comprises:

subtracting industry spend of the consumer associated with the financial institution from the industry size of wallet of the consumer.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein calculating an external size of the industry size of wallet of the consumer further comprises:

determining the amount of industry spend of the consumer associated with the financial institution from internal records of the financial institution.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein targeting one or more consumers comprises:

targeting the consumer with an offer for a new product to encourage new spending with the financial institution.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein targeting one or more consumers comprises:

targeting the consumer with an incentive to increase spending on an existing product associated with the consumer with the financial institution.