Wesabe Tips Purchase Information
Laz gets it.
What’s always inspired me about Wesabe is the power of the spending data that they aggregate. Each time I upload my data I feel like I’m contributing to the collective intelligence of my fellow members of the community. The idea that my transaction data can enhance the purchasing decisions of others and vice a versa is my favorite aspect of Wesabe. The new tips tabs closes the loop on the value proposition and I look forward to having it as a resource now and into the future.
Wesabe recently launched a section of their site called Wesabe Tips, which provides aggregate customer data on merchants including average purchase amount, purchase frequency, and likelihood to recommend to a friend. The data is based on actual spending habits from Wesabe users who upload bank and credit card data to the site. It’s interesting information that could become really powerful if Wesabe is able to convince a large enough group of people to use the service so as to create a significant sample of customers for thousands of stores, restaurants, and other businesses around the world. For example, take a look at the results for Books Merchants. You’ll see that the average Amazon customer spends over $45 per order vs. less than $30 for Barnes & Noble and Borders. More than 40% of Amazon customers make frequent purchases vs. just 20% of customers for other book sellers. That’s really valuable competitive data that’s not based on self-reported surveys, but rather on actual credit card purchases. Interesting.
