Since debit and credit cards are commonly used to pay for goods and services, they represent a strong percentage of the consumption expenditure in the country.
[6][7] However, Canada has a lower rate debit use transactions by inhabitant in comparison to the United States, Sweden, Netherlands, Australia, and Great Britain.
Information is shown that their undisclosed partner companies had access to 70 percent of transactions for credit and debit cards in the United States.
[11] The data collected is often kept anonymous and aggregate yet it can still define users within a specific ZIP code region for certain types purchases.
This information is then beneficial to companies or stores as it provides data on the kind of consumer they are targeting and how to be successful to increase their revenue in sales.
[13] Businesses benefit enormously, often at the expense of consumer privacy, as this type of information is useful for identifying promising areas of growth, enhance direct marketing response rates, and improve retention of existing customers.
[13] Exposing payment and spending trends can offer more opportunity for revenue growth as well as for consumer experiences in stores and online.
Keeping this type of data anonymous is a challenge for debit and credit card companies who share the information with third parties.