MasterCard mines customer data for marketers

MasterCard has adopted a new strategy to gain more customers; it’s started mining existing data for marketers.

By Staff | October 17, 2012 | Last updated on October 17, 2012

1 min read

Every time you swipe your MasterCard, the company collects information on what items you buy and when. They also receive a cut of the purchase.

And it seems they’ve also developed a way to make those purchases pay out again and again, says Wired.com.

As Financial Times recently discovered, the credit card giant—which processes more than 30 billion purchases a year—is helping marketers target customers who are more likely to buy their products by mining its existing customer data.

It first considered using the data as an information source for other companies last year, says FT, but halted plans due to legal and regulatory concerns. Read more on how your personal information is being used.

Though the data sharing program is only available in the U.S. so far, says Wired.com, it predicts other companies may also start looking at making the same move.

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