Spotlight on: E-receipt data

Daryl Smith, CFA, Head of Research (London)

Neudata Intelligence
Post feature

Challenges, data providers & recommendations

At Neudata we have noticed a number of press articles focusing on the benefits for investment managers of using e-receipt datasets to help them with their investment strategies. Typical examples include the use of Uber, Amazon or other high profile internet firms to, often very successfully, draw the reader’s attention.

However, none of the articles we have seen address many of the questions that we receive from our clients. These include

1) the challenges and pitfalls to be aware of when using e-receipt datasets

2) how different e-receipt data providers compare, and

3) advice on what to look for ahead of selecting a provider

We provide clarity on these three issues below.

Challenges using e-receipt data

When evaluating transactional data sources, it is easy to combine the likes of credit card, debit card and e-receipt datasets into the same dataset type. Indeed, this is exactly how Neudata defines these sources on our platform. However, there are a number of considerations unique to e-receipt data that we think are worth emphasising, even if this risks stating the obvious to many of our readers:

  1. Growth in users: Typically, e-receipt data is gathered by companies that either own or provide app developers with software development kits (SDKs). Examples include expense management and email organisation applications. These applications have often experienced rapid growth in user uptake. Consequently, today’s panel size may have been significantly