Computerized methods and computer systems for matching customers with merchants

A computer system for generating, for a customer associated with a payment card, a customer preference model, the computer system comprising:

• an interface for receiving, for the customer, transaction data relating to a plurality of payment transactions the customer makes using the payment card;
• a database for storing the transaction data;
• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory data storage device storing program instructions operative to cause the processor:
• upon receiving transaction data indicating a payment transaction using one of the payment cards, to store the data in the database;
• to generate a model of the price sensitivity of the customer and a model of the brand loyalty of the customer, and
• by comparing the price sensitivity model and the brand loyalty model to derive a first component of the respective customer preference model which is indicative of whether the payment transactions of the customer are more influenced by price or by brand loyalty, wherein,
• if the first component indicates that the payment transactions of the customer are more influenced by price than brand loyalty, the customer is categorized based on the price sensitivity model into one of a pre-determined number of tiers;
• and
• if the first component indicates that the payment transactions of the customer are more influenced by brand loyalty than price, the customer is categorized based on the brand loyalty model into one of a pre-determined number of tiers.