Big name retail chains have been recently joining forces with card companies to analyze spending patterns and cater to diverse needs of consumers.

Spearheading the trend, South Korea’s largest card company Shinhan Card inked a partnership with GS Retail, the operator of convenient store chain GS25, on Monday to develop new business models by analyzing data linked to items purchased and consumer behavior.

By combining a wide range of data, including items sold at convenience stores and payment transactions, the companies expect deep insight into their customers that they can utilize in their operations.

Instead of exclusively keeping processed data sets, such as those for market share and sales, the two partners will also try to sell data, via local data exchange platforms, to a third party.

Data to be jointly produced by Shinhan and GS Retail can be sold to an instant noodle company, for example, as it offers differentiated customer demands by gender and age groups before rolling out new products, officials said.

Last year, GS Retail launched a consortium with different partners, including SK Telecom, MBN, CJ OliveNetworks to nurture the big data segment for retail and consumption.

Not to be outdone, BGF Retail, an operator of convenience store brand CU, will make use of data analysis services provided by KB Kookmin Card to offer tailored products and services at its 14,000 CU stores across the nation.

“Convenience stores have a treasure of data, as they attract some 150 million customers every year, and data sets collected via the stores show relatively accurate consumption trends, as customers are mostly solo consumers,” said a BGF official. “Card firms will be able to partner up with companies in different sectors, including the telecom industry, down the road.”

As the stores provide data analytics technology for the card companies, card companies are expected to promote their brands and develop new services through the partnership.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)