The Visa Spending Momentum Index (SMI)* is a leading economic indicator that provides a timely read on the health of consumer spending. The Index is based on a sample of current, depersonalized spending data from Visa-branded credit and debit credentials. The SMI is calibrated to be representative of all consumer spending regardless of form factor used for payment. When the SMI rises above 100, spending momentum is strengthening and when it falls below 100, spending momentum is weakening as fewer consumers are spending more, relative to the previous year. At 100, the SMI signifies that spending momentum is neutral and spending is growing at a pace consistent with its long-term trend.

Existing metrics often track consumer spending only based on sales at physical retail outlets. Growth in both consumers' purchases of services and their use of digital commerce channels often gets lost. Visa's SMI leverages the power of the Visa network to fill this important gap. The index is based on current, depersonalized transaction data from a sample of Visa-branded credit and debit credentials, representing actual spending behavior by millions of consumers. For this reason, the SMI provides subscribing, eligible clients a timely, customizable view into consumer spending trends at the national, regional, and local spending level, and encompasses both online and offline purchases.

No, the SMI differs from Visa's total payment volumes in two important ways. First, the index is based on the count of consumers spending more or less during a given period. Payment volume, in contrast, aggregates spending across those consumers and can be influenced by how many consumers are spending and how much they are purchasing. Second, payment volume statistics are based on spending on all Visa-branded credentials, whereas the index relies on a sample of credentials and therefore does not reflect Visa financial or operational performance.

In addition to the national figure that is publicly released, Visa's SMI can be segmented further for business intelligence. Depending on the data customization provided, the SMI can help to inform acquisition, usage, and retention initiatives. It can also be an early indicator of local and national changes in worker incomes and jobs, allowing for timely and comprehensive risk management. Additional industry benchmarking can help give clients a deeper understanding of payment and economic trends.

Sub-indexes are available on a subscription basis to eligible Visa clients in four key areas:

1. Location. The scores associated with the Visa SMI index generally start at the city level. Data at the city level can be further aggregated using population weights to create indices for higher levels of geographic aggregation (for example, state, province, region and nation, etc.).
2. Credential segment, i.e., debit and credit credentials.
3. Major spending segments, including fuel, restaurant, discretionary and non-discretionary spending items. Discretionary spending includes purchases that are more sensitive to changes in household income and employment, such as travel and entertainment, durable goods, clothing, personal services, home repairs, and others. Non-discretionary, or everyday spending, is less sensitive to these labor market changes and includes health care, groceries, utilities, and education. Restaurant spending includes spending at full-service and quick-service restaurants. Gasoline spending includes all spending at fuel/service stations.
4. Custom SMI according to the client's own portfolio.

For eligible Visa clients, access to more detailed views based on geography, merchant segment and product of the data is available through subscriptions delivered via the Visa Analytics Platform. More custom engagements can be arranged by contacting Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA), Visa's global client-facing team of several hundred payments consultants, data scientists and economists across six continents. VCA can help to identify an actionable SMI solution that best meets your needs and desired business outcomes. Contact: vca@visa.com.

The SMI is designed with customer data protection in mind. All SMI data is depersonalized so that it cannot be linked back to an individual. The data is also aggregated based on the count of credentials that have increased or decreased their spending according to various transactional-level attributes, then summarized into an SMI diffusion index. To ensure both privacy and statistical robustness, the number of credentials used in any SMI data sample must meet a minimum threshold. This threshold exceeds the minimum requirements of most survey methodologies. Read more about data privacy.

Visa's Spending Momentum Index measures the share of Visa-branded credit and debit cards that have increased their monthly spending compared to the same month in the previous year. Using proprietary filtering techniques, Visa samples the credentials to minimize the influence of commercial-related changes for every pair of observations over time. Together with adjustments made to sales volumes, these steps amplify the underlying signal on the momentum in consumer spending.

Each card that remains after filtering is assigned one of three scores: 200 for cards where spending has increased more than the long-term average growth rate in spending, 100 for cards with stable spending and 0 for cards with spending growth that falls below the long-term average. The long-term average growth rate is the five-year rolling average annual growth rate. The scores are then aggregated at a city-level. The data at the city level is then aggregated using population-weighted averages to create indices for higher levels of geographic aggregation (for example, city, state, province, regional and national, etc.). An SMI reading above the 100 threshold indicates broad based net acceleration in economic momentum, while values below indicate a contraction on an annual basis.