New mobile research platform tracks African cash economy

Safaricom, a communications company in Kenya, offers a solution that allows consumers to pay for goods and services daily through their phones, while mSurvey is a mobile-first research platform that uses SMS and mobile messaging technology to gather data from the emerging world. 

Currently in beta, Consumer Wallet is a live and dynamic data feed that uses mSurvey’s mobile messaging platform to send consumers simple questions about spending behaviour. This results in a visualised data stream that provides insight into offline consumer spending habits in Kenya, as well as a measurement of ‘share of wallet'.

“Research, big data, social listening and market monitoring are critical to business development,” said Dr. Victor Ikawa, head of research and insights at Safaricom.

“With the Consumer Wallet, we not only holistically quantify how much cash consumers are spending on goods and services, we can also now understand and track the ‘why’ – the emotional and practical variables that drive and impact consumer spend. This is a powerful value-add for Consumer Wallet users that unlocks unprecedented insights that get richer and more nuanced over time.”