Global payment network processor Mastercard will acquire personalization platform provider Dynamic Yield from McDonald’s to enable the global payment network processor to provide its clients with ways to serve better CX.
“Mastercard plays a central role in enabling trusted digital commerce experiences, connecting billions of consumers with millions of merchants and banks around the world safely and securely,” said Purchase, New York-based Mastercard in its statement on the planned acquisition. “With Dynamic Yield’s technology, Mastercard will be able to help its customers and partners meet consumers’ growing demand for a more personalized experience, no matter where they shop or do business.”
The creation of a unified customer engagement and loyalty hub will further extend the
value of the Mastercard network to deliver digital services for payments and beyond, Mastercard said further.
Dynamic Yield, headquartered in New York City, is the provider of a software as a service (SaaS) platform that personalizes a consumer’s experience with a brand. Founded in 2011, Dynamic Yield specializes in personalization and decision technology, using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies to deliver individualized product recommendations, offers, and content based on a range of factors, including past purchases, page views, time of day, current store traffic, and trending products. The platform currently supports more than 400 brands in the retail, financial services, travel, and restaurant industries.
In 2019, McDonald’s bought Dynamic Yield to personalize the fast-food chain’s drive-thru experience, becoming one of the first brands to integrate decision technology into its restaurants. The technology has been an important component of McDonald’s strategy to accelerate growth by improving its ordering experience, among other measures. Earlier this year in March, however, CNBC reported that McDonald’s was considering the partial sale of Dynamic Yield after McDonald’s franchisees questioned the system’s performance in the past year. McDonald’s had said a review found that Dynamic Yield’s technology contributed to sales less than originally reported.
Mastercard said that acquiring Dynamic Yield was a “natural addition” to its existing suite of services to help brands deliver more effective and trusted CX across channels. The acquisition is likely to further scale Mastercard’s capabilities and extend its reach in additional markets, while also growing the payment company’s third-party businesses.
“The notion of going into a store or opening a webpage to find an experience perfectly tailored to you is no longer far-fetched. It’s a reality that more brands are deploying and that more consumers expect,” said Raj Seshadri, president of data and services at Mastercard. “With Dynamic Yield’s expertise and our scale and relationships, we’ll be able to bring the connections between the end consumer and our customers to new heights,” Seshadri added.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, although some reports have said the acquisition is valued at $300 million. The deal, subject to customary reviews, is expected to close by the first half of next year. An earlier Dash Network story on Dynamic Yield focused on the findings in a recent personalization study that the company had conducted.
Author Information
Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
