Systems and methods for analyzing consumer spending using geofencing

A computer-implemented method for creating and analyzing geofence zones, the method implemented using a geofence computing device including a processor in communication with a memory, a user device, and a payment processor implementing a payment processing system for a payment card network, the method comprising the steps of:

• causing an interactive zone map to be displayed on a display device of the user device via a client application executing on the user computing device;
• receiving from the user device geofence data including a first zone perimeter and a second zone perimeter input by a user via the interactive zone map;
• create from the received geofence data a first user defined geofence zone having a first geographic area within a first geographic boundary and a a second user defined geofence zone having a second geographic area within a second geographic boundary;
• receiving, from the user device, a change in a sales tax rate for the first user defined geofence zone and a date of the change in the sales tax rate;
• retrieving, from the payment processor, historical transaction data for payment transactions processed by the payment processing system prior to the date of the change in the sales tax rate, wherein the historical transaction data includes (i) a first set of historical transaction data for transactions made by a plurality of cardholders residing in the first user defined geofence zone with merchants in the first user defined geofence zone, and (ii) a second set of historical transaction data for transactions made by a plurality of cardholders residing in the first user defined geofence zone with merchants in the second user defined geofence zone, wherein the merchants in the first user defined geofence zone and the merchants in the second user defined geofence zone are in communication with the payment processor via the payment network, and wherein the payment transactions are transmitted to the payment processor by the merchants in the first user defined geofence zone and the merchants in the second user defined geofence zone via the payment card network;
• calculating, using an analytics module, a pre-change comparison between the first set of historical transaction data for the plurality of cardholders and the second set of historical transaction data for the plurality of cardholders;
• monitoring, in real-time, authorization request messages submitted by merchants to the payment processor via the payment card network subsequent to the date of change, wherein each authorization request message represents a payment transaction initiated at a respective merchant by a respective cardholder, and wherein each authorization request message includes at least one of a merchant location and a merchant identifier;
• determining a first set of the authorization request messages for a plurality of cardholders for which a geographic location of a residence of each respective cardholder is in the first user defined geofence zone and a merchant location of the respective merchant is in the first user defined geofence zone;
• determining a second set of the authorization request messages for a plurality of cardholders for which a geographic location of the residence of each respective cardholder is in the first user defined geofence zone and the merchant location of the respective merchant is in the second user defined geofence zone;
• calculating, using the analytics module, a post-change comparison between the first set of the authorization request messages and the second set of the authorization request messages;
• comparing, using the analytics module, the zone pre-change comparison to the post-change comparison to calculate a spending trend difference between the first user defined geofence zone and the second user defined geofence zone based on the change in the sales tax rate;
• and
• transmitting a report including the spending trend difference in the pre-change comparison and the post-change comparison to the user device.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon, wherein when executed by a geofence computing device including a processor in communication with a memory, a user device, and a payment processor implementing a payment processing system for a payment card network, the computer-executable instructions cause the geofence computing device to:

• cause an interactive zone map to be displayed on a display device of the user device via a client application executing on the user computing device;
• receive, from the user device, geofence data including a first zone perimeter and a second zone perimeter input by a user via the interactive zone map;
• create from the received geofence data a first user defined geofence zone having a first geographic area within a first geographic boundary and a second user defined geofence zone having a second geographic area within a second geographic boundary;
• receive, from the user device, a change in a sales tax rate for the first user defined geofence zone and a date of the change in the sales tax rate;
• retrieve, from the payment processor, historical transaction data for payment transactions processed by the payment processing system prior to the date of the change in the sales tax rate, wherein the historical transaction data includes (i) a first set of historical transaction data for transactions made by a plurality of cardholders residing in the first user defined geofence zone with merchants in the first user defined geofence zone, and (ii) a second set of historical transaction data for transactions made by a plurality of cardholders residing in the first user defined geofence zone with merchants in the second user defined geofence zone, wherein the merchants in the first user defined geofence zone and the merchants in the second user defined geofence zone are in communication with the payment processor via the payment network, and wherein the payment transactions are transmitted to the payment processor by the merchants in the first user defined geofence zone and the merchants in the second user defined geofence zone via the payment card network;
• calculate, using an analytics module, a pre-change comparison between the first set of historical transaction data for the plurality of cardholders and the second set of historical transaction data for the plurality of cardholders;
• monitor, in real-time, authorization request messages submitted by merchants to the payment processor via the payment card network subsequent to the date of change, wherein each authorization request message represents a payment transaction initiated at a respective merchant by a respective cardholder, and wherein each authorization request message includes at least one of a merchant location and a merchant identifier;
• determine a first set of the authorization request messages for a plurality of cardholders for which a geographic location of a residence of each respective cardholder is in the first user defined geofence zone and a merchant location of the respective merchant is in the first user defined geofence zone;
• determine a second set of the authorization request messages for a plurality of cardholders for which a geographic location of the residence of each respective cardholder is in the first user defined geofence zone and the merchant location of the respective merchant is in the second user defined geofence zone;
• calculate, using the analytics module, a post-change comparison between the first set of the authorization request messages and the second set of the authorization request messages;
• compare, using the analytics module, the zone pre-change comparison to the post-change comparison to calculate a spending trend difference between the first user defined geofence zone and the second user defined geofence zone based on the change in the sales tax rate;
• and
• transmit a report including the spending trend difference in the pre-change comparison and the post-change comparison to the user device.