PYMNTS.com Introduces What’s Next Data Analytics

  • Data
  • 16.09.2016 09:30 am

Responding to increased demand for sophisticated data analysis on the issues that are driving the future of payments, retail and commerce, PYMNTS.com has launched What’s Next Data Analytics (What’s Next).

What's Next gives executives working in these dynamic ecosystems access to data-driven intelligence that helps answer the myriad of questions they now face and for which concrete, credible and consistent data sources simply don’t exist to help guide their decision-making.

The data scientists at What’s Next include leading econometricians, survey experts, financial analysts, and marketing scientists with deep experience in the application of data to the payments and commerce ecosystems. This team has devised proprietary methods for collecting original data around the world, statistical techniques for analyzing those data, and producing deliverables that help draw actionable insights from those data.

“The What’s Next team is the same team that uncovered major flaws in the Census Bureau’s e-commerce data last summer,” said Karen Webster, CEO of PYMNTS.com, “and has decades of experience in applying sophisticated techniques to draw insights from data for many of the largest firms in the world.”

The What’s Next team has provided support to leading global players across a variety of sectors and issues. Their work has already lead to more than 20 data-driven artifacts that are available in the public domain and housed on PYMNTS.com.

The Checkout Conversion Index, for example, has tracked frictions in buying, paying, and checking-out for 750 online retailers covering more than 70 percent of retail volume in the United States for the last year. The team has collected 138 thousand data points on US online retailers every quarter for the last year from a detailed examination of their websites, giving merchants guidance on how to improve checkout conversion, how they rank against competitors, and what tangible actions they can take to avoid lost sales.

What’s Next has collected 1.3 million original data points. That database is increasing rapidly as the team continues ongoing data collection efforts and launches new initiatives.

What’s Next Data Analytics is lead by Dr. David S. Evans, one of the economists who uncovered the Census e-commerce problems. He and his team will tap into the data points that has already been amassed as well as undertaking specialized data collection efforts for companies. “What’s Next is all about making sure execs have the right data, and reliable data, for making decisions,” he said. “Too often companies rely on the wrong data or bad data – and in the ‘age of big data’ there’s unfortunately a lot of that in the ether. Not surprisingly, that often leads to bad decisions.”

The What’s Next team was the first to sound the alarms on the low adoption of Apple Pay. Led by Karen Webster the team developed sophisticated surveys for tracking the extent to which people with Apple Pay on their phones used Apple Pay when paying at a terminal that accepted Apple Pay. These surveys have been conducted every quarter since shortly after the launch of Apple Pay and now extend to other mobile payment methods. This data has been widely cited in the media and has helped to shape executive decision-making on mobile payments.

What’s Next has fielded surveys and collected data globally. In addition to the United States, it has a strong presence in China, Europe, India, and Latin America, and a multi-lingual team.

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