Financial Cards.
Consulting engagement: Interviews, analysis, and insights for financial cards multinational.
Background
Euromonitor is a leading provider of global consumer market and business intelligence. Euromonitor Consulting, the firm's specialist consulting arm, were looking to gather market intelligence on the payments landscape in Europe for a major player in the financial card payments industry. Having already established a long and successful track record of consumer finance collaborations, I was brought on board as a consulting analyst to gather information on the UK, one of the project's largest markets. The project objectives were:
1. To determine the value and volume share by payment type (cash, debit/credit cards etc.) including on/offline splits across multiple industries.
2. To uncover the drivers of online sales and how new technologies are changing the payments landscape.
3. To use intelligence gained from research to devise strategies to increase penetration of the desired payment type across the industries under examination.
The Project
MEETING THE CHALLENGE THROUGH COLLABORATION
The volume and complexity of information requested by the client required Euromonitor to leverage the expertise of consulting analysts with specialist primary and secondary research experience to deliver the requisite data and insight through an extensive industry interview process. The main objectives were:
Building a comprehensive list of merchants
Prior to commencing interviews, key brands and global brand owners were researched to generate a merchant list across 10+ industries, including transportation, education, health, insurance and accountancy.
The challenge: executing the interviews
Conducting several interviews for each industry, with individuals at all levels of their respective organisations was no easy task. Regular meetings between the in-house and consulting team ensured the best strategies were shared and adopted.
Inputting the data to generate splits
Multiple data types were required to be recorded on a spreadsheet from which market segmentation splits were generated. Qualitative data in the form of trend explanations was also necessary to corroborate statistical information.
INTERVIEWS CONVERTED, DATA & INSIGHTS GLEANED
Having been assigned one of the project's key markets, it was critical to fulfill all interviews as well as extract as much critical information as possible based on hard data. This ultimately resulted in trend explanations and strategic insights that added more value to the client.
Industry interviews concluded
All merchant interviews were completed and data collected within the specified time-frames for the projects.
Data, trends explanations & analysis collated
All quantitative and qualitative data was inputted, edited and cleaned. Trend drivers and explanations were expanded to specific recomendations for the client.
HOW DID IT WORK OUT?
The project's final task was to develop strategies on behalf of the client on how to boost card payment products on the basis of all market intelligence collected during the research and interview process. These insight highlights would be critical to add value and drive the client's executive decision making to improve penetration of its financial cards payments over the competition. After a brief spread-sheet editing process and closing discussions, the project was successfully concluded. Working with Euromonitor Consulting was a pleasure and I look forward to collaborating again soon.
"It has been a pleasure working with James, I really appreciated the commitment, hard work, professionalism and insightful analysis. am sure there will be other consulting projects on which we will have the chance of working on together again."
