Jess sits down with Michael Nevski, Director of Global Insights at Visa. They discuss the creation and impact of Visa’s Spending Momentum Index (SMI), overcoming barriers, and the changing landscape of insights in the industry. They also talk about brands connecting with consumers and share personal experiences of impulse buying.
The Spending Momentum Index (SMI) measures consumer spending and helps brands adapt to economic shifts by providing insights into how consumers are spending in different categories.
The development of the SMI faced challenges such as legal compliance, lack of data availability, and educating business partners on utilizing the index effectively.
Deep dives
The Story behind the Spending Momentum Index
The Spending Momentum Index (SMI) was developed by two economists at Visa and is an index that measures consumer spending on a scale of 100. It provides insights into how consumers are spending in various categories and helps brands adapt to economic shifts. The index was further improved by adding demographic segmentation to make it more business applicable. The main challenges in developing the SMI were legal compliance, lack of data availability on the demographic side, and finding reputable data providers. The SMI has been used by brands for benchmarking their performance against the market, understanding consumer segments, and making location-based decisions.
Challenges and Setbacks in Developing the SMI
Challenges in developing the Spending Momentum Index included building internal support for the concept, addressing privacy concerns, and educating business partners on how to utilize the index effectively. The need for depersonalized and aggregated data also required working with suppliers to obtain third-party data that could be appended to the index. Additionally, budgetary, technological, and operational factors posed challenges to the development process.
Impact and Application of the SMI
The Spending Momentum Index has been utilized by brands in the banking and financial services industry to understand their market performance, target specific demographic segments, and make informed decisions such as location selection, staffing, and campaign activation. The SMI provides a leading indicator of consumer spending trends and helps brands anticipate consumer behavior and needs. It also supports brands in building trust, meeting consumer needs, and addressing societal concerns.
On this week’s episode of the podcast, Jess sits down with Michael Nevski, Director of Global Insights at Visa. Learn all about Michael’s background in marketing, client insights, and product management. We dig into the creation and impact of Visa’s Spending Momentum Index (SMI), a new way to learn and understand the health of consumer spending and their impact in driving economic trends.
Tune in to learn:
How SMI was created from start to finish, from a concept to launch
How collaboration and education were key in overcoming barriers and gaining stakeholder support
The impact of uncertainty, inflation, and global events on the insights industry
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