Nowadays, it's not enough for a business to offer good products/services at competitive prices in order to conquer the market.
In the midst of the digital transformation era, running a successful business means gaining in-depth knowledge of the customer, their needs and consumer trends, as well as the competition, in order to anticipate phenomena and offer a service that provides added value.
How do you achieve this? Through data.
Retailer data in Portugal with REDUNIQ Insights
Whether in a macro scenario where, for example, an organisation is trying to understand the geographical area where consumers are most open to its products/services, or in a micro scenario where cross-referencing internal records with the data generated makes it possible to acquire valuable information about your target audience and monitor trends, data is the basis of successful business administration that enables business growth.
Despite its importance for structuring and growing businesses, for more complex sales cycles where large amounts of data are produced from different sources, organising and transforming raw data into valid information that can be properly analysed and used in decision-making requires the help of analysis tools that can do this effectively and profitably.
This is the case with REDUNIQ Insights, a knowledge solution that provides all the relevant analytical information for its clients based on national retail information, supporting companies in generating insights when making business development decisions.
Developed within REDUNIQ, the largest national and foreign card acceptance network in Portugal, having transacted 20.4 billion euros in purchases in 2021, totalling 600 million transactions. REDUNIQ Insights has privileged access to detailed information on consumption profiles in establishments served by the REDUNIQ network.
As we've already mentioned, the anticipation of trends that this type of reporting offers companies is a huge competitive advantage, since the treatment of market data enable them to get to know "their" consumers better.
Who your consumers are, where they live, which products they buy the most or knowing who is consuming products similar to those your company offers, who you should communicate with or compare your business with the sector in general, are some of the fundamental elements for the growth of a company that has a REDUNIQ Insights will allow you to get to know them and, from there, chalk out strategies that will enable your company to grow.
REDUNIQ Insights - the knowledge solution that analyses the transactions recorded by REDUNIQ's payment acceptance network
Let's take the latest report as an example REDUNIQ Insights on national retail performance during the summer.
In this report, you can obtain information from the retailer data in PortugalThe report covers areas as diverse as the evolution of business invoicing in the summer months of this year and compares it with the same period in 2021, average consumer spending per purchase (average ticket), the performance of the various national retail sectors, the evolution of card invoicing achieved (Portuguese and foreign), the performance of retail and tourism by geographical region or consumer payment habits.
The highlights of this report, in which foreign consumption in Portugal soared by more than 80% in the period under review, are,
- Invoicing via foreign cards boosted business performance in Portugal, which saw a total increase of 32.2% this summer compared to the same period last year.
- France represents the largest share of foreign turnover in Portugal, with 18% of that total. Behind it are the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States and Spain.
After a first half of the year in which tourism drove a 45% increase in turnover with domestic and foreign cards, compared to the same period last year, the recent holiday season continues the same recovery trend, with turnover via domestic cards increasing by 19.6%.
However, it was the return of foreign tourists to the national territory that led to a better performance of Portuguese businesses, with business invoicing by foreign cards increasing by 82.5% in the period between 1 July and 15 September, when compared to the same period in 2021.
With regard to the origin of the tourists who contributed most to the growth in total foreign turnover, the following stand out,
- France with 18%
- United Kingdom 14%
- Ireland 11%
- United States 10%
- Spain 9%
These figures are in line with the estimates released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and the Bank of Portugal (BdP), revealing that in July there was an increase of 205.6% in the number of foreign overnight stays in Portugal, when compared to the same period of the previous year.
As for the average purchase price, the following stand out,
- the Irish with an average of €112 per transaction
- Americans with an average of €71 per transaction
- the British with an average of €48 per transaction
- the French with an average of €46 per transaction
- Spaniards with an average of €40 per transaction
According to Tiago Oom, Commercial Director of UNICRE and official spokesperson for the REDUNIQ Insights, highlights three main factors to explain the figures presented,
"The results obtained by businesses during the summer months reflect a number of factors driving the increase in turnover. Firstly, the fact that this was the first summer without restrictions on the movement of citizens between countries due to the control of the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to greater consumer confidence (both domestic and foreign) returning to the country's main tourist attractions. At the same time, Portugal is currently reaping the rewards of a strong investment and promotion programme in tourism, especially to attract foreign tourists. Finally, the inflationary scenario itself has led to a generalised increase in products and services linked to the tourism sector, which is also contributing to the growth in turnover for these businesses."
Also resulting from the REDUNIQ InsightsThe performance of the different sectors of activity was analysed. Considering not only foreign cards, but also domestic ones, in general there was an increase in turnover in tourism-related businesses compared to the same period last year:
- car hire grew 85%
- hospitality grew 71%
- restoration grew 50%
Finally, analysing the most touristic districts compared to the same period last year, the following stand out:
- Lisbon with 43% growth in total turnover
- Azores and Faro, both with 36% growth in total turnover
- Madeira with 32% growth in total turnover
- Porto with 28% growth in total turnover
Furthermore, Lisbon and the Azores are the districts with the greatest variation in terms of foreign consumption, with an increase in invoicing of 125% and 103% respectively.
Using REDUNIQ InsightsIf you have a business with several shops throughout Portugal, you can find out, among other things, what percentage of your turnover corresponds to contactless payments - transactions made by approaching a card or wearable to a Contactless PINor whether your product and service offering is in line with the needs and expectations of customers in a particular geographical area where your retail business is based.
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