A fundamental characteristic of today’s market is the extreme competitiveness with which commercial operations are developed. Business intelligence is key to getting ahead, but until recently in-depth BI development was difficult for small- and medium-sized businesses to adopt. Today, this has changed thanks to data and APIs like PayStats, which can be found in BBVA’s API_Market.
“Our customers are getting better value since we started using BBVA PayStats,” said Miguel Ángel Fajardo, Chief Technology Officer at Geoblink, a leading consulting firm in the area of location intelligence, which helps companies find the best locations for their business.
PayStats, one of the products that can be found in BBVA API_Market, “aggregates and anonymizes all transactions made with BBVA credit and debit cards at any PoS (point of sale) or any credit/debit card used at a BBVA PoS,” explained Alberto González, BBVA API_Market’s product owner. “We have been using it ever since the beta version came out three years ago, and it has delivered a lot of value”, agreed David Rey, Chief Data Officer at Idealista Data.
All of them formed part in the panel ‘Increasing decision-making knowledge through data APIs’ at the Smart Data Spain Summit 2018 held at Atletico Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitana stadium.
Like in soccer, in PayStats, the playing field is where the strategy unfolds: “We lay out information by census category, by zip codes, and by 500 square meters (1640 square feet) areas. In all of Spain. That’s how we get data by the hour or by the day, peaks and troughs, and in up to 79 different categories,” explained González.
“We will input Internet purchases into PayStats using online buying data as well cash withdrawals from ATMs”
Can a small- or medium-sized retailer compete with the muscle of large-scale players? Before, no. But, Fajardo used an example to show how the tables have turned thanks to technologies like PayStats. “Traditional market research companies sent professionals to the streets to count people going into and coming out of shops and making note of the brands in their shopping bags. This was very expensive and only accessible to large-scale retailers. Today, with these new technologies, we can provide the same data, but with much more detail, and more importantly, with a greater level of accuracy and for a much better price.”
Given a certain customer profile, with PayStats, the entrepreneur can learn which area of the city is best suited for his or her store. Or for investors, with this API they can find out which business is best suited to occupy a specific location or even what time-bands would need to have more sales or customer service staff. “This product makes our lives much easier, both when it comes to developing new functionalities that we couldn’t do without BBVA PayStats as well as generally improving our product.” asserted Fajardo whose clients specifically look for these kinds of answers.
The future of PayStats
“What the data says is important, very important,” González stated, “because intention isn’t the same as evidence.” Interpretation of the data is equally as important. Depending on who does it and for what, a value proposition, a potential business, or enterprise can be specified and its viability —even its profitability— can be evaluated.
Idealist Data’s Rey provided a good example of the latter. “We want to become a company that manages information about houses. Not only about houses that are bought and sold but also about the activity in the house during the time its used as an asset. Any information that helps us learn about who is behind the house’s front door will add greater depth to our value proposition.”
This is precisely where the near future of PayStats lies. “Next, we will input Internet purchases into PayStats using online buying data as well cash withdrawals from ATMs, with the aim of maximizing the value we offer our customers,” affirms González.
Just like in a company where the human team is fundamental to winning the match, APIs can be very useful players thanks to digital transformation. The full line-up can be found at BBVA API_Market, with ten strong candidates for the Spanish market, among which PayStats can be found.