Assessing the usefulness of store card data in direct sales of financial services

The UK financial services market has expanded in recent years through the addition of several non-traditional players. We evaluate the extent to which this increased supply of services is best channelled through existing retail locations or whether products are better promoted and managed via direct marketing methods. Using a UK grocer/retailer's lifestyle customer database for an urban store and an out-of-centre location, we analyse a regional sample of customers who have received financial services mail-shots. The use of GIS and logistic regression enables the determination of the extent to which mail respondents have distinctive characteristics in terms of wealth, financial service ownership and proximity to store. Finally, we discuss the implications of our empirical study for in-store financial services support and draw some general conclusions based on our assessment of the usefulness of lifestyles data in such applications.