Patent Publication Number: US-2019172129-A1

Title: Systems and methods for using aggregated merchant analytics to analyze merchant loan risk

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The field of the disclosure relates generally to generation merchant analytics, and, more specifically, to network-based methods and systems for generating aggregated merchant valuation analytics and using those analytics to analyze merchant loan risk. 
     There are many parties interested in the value of a merchant, including, but not limited to, commercial real estate owners, lenders, and brokers, as well as business owners, managers, and marketing directors. However, it is difficult to assess the value of a merchant in a manner that facilitates comparison of the merchant to other merchants in varying locations (e.g., in different areas of a city, in different states, in different countries). In particular, it may be difficult to discern which merchants demonstrate improvised key business characteristics—such as growth rate, revenue stability, or consumer traffic—relative to other merchants. In some cases, it is only assumed that certain merchants are “top” earners or “top” locations. In situations where financial decisions (e.g., the distribution of marketing funds) are being made based on a relative ranking of merchants, having a more reliable metric to compare and contrast the success of one merchant compared to all other merchants may be beneficial. 
     Moreover, parties that offer loans to merchants (e.g., loan issuing entities) may be unable to gauge the level of risk or performance of the merchant. For example, at least some loan issuing entities may only have the loan repayment as an indicator of a merchant&#39;s performance. However, many other variables factors into a merchant&#39;s performance, and also indicate the potential risk that a merchant may be unable to repay a loan in the future. It may be beneficial to have additional performance indicators in order to evaluate the risk associated with a loan to a merchant. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION 
     In one aspect, a method for using aggregated merchant analytics for a sector to determine a loan risk for the sector is provided. The method is implemented by a merchant analytics computing device including at least one processor in communication with a memory. The merchant analytics computing device is in communication with a user computing device. The method includes defining a plurality of sectors of a geographic region. The method also includes receiving, by the merchant analytics computing device, transaction data for financial transactions occurring within a period of time. The transaction data is associated with a plurality of merchants, and the plurality of merchants are located in the geographic region. The method further includes identifying, for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, one sector of the plurality of sectors in which the merchant is located. The method includes generating, by the merchant analytics computing device, aggregated merchant analytics for each sector based on the transaction data associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants located in the sector. The aggregated merchant analytics represent a ranking of each sector relative to all other sectors of the plurality of sectors. In addition, the method includes determining a total pending loan amount for a subset of the plurality of sectors, each sector in the subset of sectors having at least a predetermined number of merchants having loans issued thereto, and calculating a loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors based upon the aggregated merchant analytics and the total pending loan amount for each sector. The method still further includes displaying, by the merchant analytics computing device, on a user interface of the user computing device, the loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors. The loan risk score is graphically displayed in association with a merchant loan portfolio. 
     In another aspect, a merchant analytics computing device including at least one processor in communication with a memory is provided. The merchant analytics computing device is in communication with a user computing device. The at least one processor is programmed to define a plurality of sectors of a geographic region, and receive transaction data for financial transactions occurring within a period of time. The transaction data is associated with a plurality of merchants, and the plurality of merchants are located in the geographic region. The at least one processor is also programmed to identify, for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, one sector of the plurality of sectors in which the merchant is located, and generate aggregated merchant analytics for each sector based on the transaction data associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants located in the sector. The aggregated merchant analytics represent a ranking of each sector relative to all other sectors of the plurality of sectors. The at least one processor is further programmed to determine a total pending loan amount for a subset of the plurality of sectors, each sector in the subset of sectors having at least a predetermined number of merchants having loans issued thereto, and calculate a loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors based upon the aggregated merchant analytics and the total pending loan amount for each sector. The at least one processor is still further programmed to display, on a user interface of the user computing device, the loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors. The loan risk score is graphically displayed in association with a merchant loan portfolio. 
     In a further aspect, a computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon is provided. When executed by a merchant analytics computing device including at least one processor in communication with a memory, the computer-executable instructions cause the merchant analytics computing device to define a plurality of sectors of a geographic region, and receive transaction data for financial transactions occurring within a period of time. The transaction data is associated with a plurality of merchants, and the plurality of merchants are located in the geographic region. The computer-executable instructions also cause the merchant analytics computing device to identify, for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, one sector of the plurality of sectors in which the merchant is located, and generate aggregated merchant analytics for each sector based on the transaction data associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants located in the sector. The aggregated merchant analytics represent a ranking of each sector relative to all other sectors of the plurality of sectors. The computer-executable instructions cause the merchant analytics computing device to determine a total pending loan amount for a subset of the plurality of sectors, each sector in the subset of sectors having at least a predetermined number of merchants having loans issued thereto, and calculate a loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors based upon the aggregated merchant analytics and the total pending loan amount for each sector. The computer-executable instructions also cause the merchant analytics computing device to display, on a user interface of the user computing device, the loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors, wherein the loan risk score is graphically displayed in association with a merchant loan portfolio. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIGS. 1-19  show example embodiments of the methods and systems described herein. 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating an example multi-party payment card system for enabling payment-by-card transactions and generating aggregated merchant analytics in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is an expanded block diagram of an example embodiment of a computer system used in processing payment transactions that includes a merchant analytics computing device in accordance with one example embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an example configuration of a server system such as the merchant analytics computing device of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an example configuration of a client system shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 5  is a simplified data flow diagram for generating merchant analytics using the merchant analytics computing device of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIGS. 6-15  are example screenshots of a user interface of a user computing device, including merchant analytics generated by the merchant analytics computing device of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 16  is a simplified diagram of an example method for generating merchant analytics and displaying said analytics on a user interface using the merchant analytics computing device of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 17  is a diagram of components of one or more example computing devices that may be used in the environment shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 18  is an example portfolio record including calculated and displayed aggregated merchant analytics. 
         FIG. 19  is a diagram of an example method for generating merchant analytics to analyze a merchant loan risk using the merchant analytics computing device of  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
    
     Although specific features of various embodiments may be shown in some drawings and not in others, this is for convenience only. Any feature of any drawing may be referenced and/or claimed in combination with any feature of any other drawing. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The systems and methods described herein facilitate the generation of aggregated merchant valuation analytics for a plurality of merchants located in an established or defined sector, and the presentation of said analytics to a user on an interactive user interface. The system described herein (i) receives transaction data associated with a plurality of merchants in a geographic region; (ii) processes the transaction data to generate aggregated merchant analytics for a plurality of sectors in the geographic region, including a loan risk score representing a relative risk of offering loan(s) to merchant(s) within a sector; and (iii) presents said analytics to a user on an interactive user interface. The aggregated merchant analytics may be directed toward five key characteristics of a merchant or a sector including multiple merchants: growth, stability, size, traffic, and ticket size (and a composite or aggregation of those characteristics). The aggregated merchant analytics may also be directed towards additional metrics based upon those characteristics, such as a loan risk. In such cases, the generated aggregated merchant analytics facilitate providing additional insight and previously unavailable information to a user, with respect to the particulars of potential merchant success (e.g., ability to repay a loan) or lack thereof. 
     The systems and methods described herein are implemented by a computing device that may be referred to as a “merchant analytics computing device”. The merchant analytics computing device includes a processor in communication with a memory. In the example embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device is configured to: (i) define a plurality of sectors of a geographic region; (ii) receive transaction data for financial transactions occurring within a period of time, the transaction data associated with a plurality of merchants, the plurality of merchants located in the geographic region; (iii) identify, for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, one sector of the plurality of sectors in which the merchant is located; (iv) generate aggregated merchant analytics for each sector based on the transaction data associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants located in the sector, wherein the aggregated merchant analytics represent a ranking of each sector relative to all other sectors of the plurality of sectors; (v) determining a total pending loan amount for a subset of the plurality of sectors, each sector in the subset of sectors having at least a predetermined number of merchants having loans issued thereto; (vi) calculating a loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors based upon the aggregated merchant analytics and the total pending loan amount for each sector; and (vii) displaying, by the merchant analytics computing device, on a user interface of the user computing device, the loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors, wherein the loan risk score is graphically displayed in association with a merchant loan portfolio. 
     Sector Definition Phase 
     The merchant analytics computing device is configured to define a plurality of “merchant sectors,” “sector locations,” or “sectors” (used interchangeably herein). More specifically, the merchant analytics computing device is configured to divide up a geographic region (e.g., a country, state, city, county, etc.) into a plurality of sectors containing merchants therein (i.e., a subset of a plurality of merchants located within the geographic region). The sector may be defined by a geographic boundary containing the plurality of merchants therein. In an example embodiment, sectors are defined according to census blocks, and the geographic boundaries of a sector correspond to the geographic boundaries of the census block. In some embodiments, each sector includes a minimum of five merchants. Accordingly, where a sector is initially defined as a census block including fewer than five merchants, the geographic boundaries of the sector are expanded or adjusted to include at least one additional census block until the sector includes at least five merchants. In some embodiments, each sector may include up to n merchants, where n is an integer greater than five. 
     As described above, sectors may be defined on a geographic scale as small as a census block (which may be as small as a city block). However, sectors at the census block level may be “rolled up” or aggregated into larger, block-group level sectors, which may correspond to block groups as defined by the United States Census Bureau. Block-group level sectors may be rolled up or aggregated into large sectors, such as city- or county-level sectors, which themselves may be rolled up or aggregated into state- or nation-level sectors. The (geographic) size of the sectors may depend, in an example embodiment, on a user&#39;s view of a map on an interactive user interface, the map displaying the defined sectors. For example, is a user is viewing an entire nation, the sectors may be displayed at a state level. If the user is viewing a particular county, the sectors may be displayed at a block-group or block level. 
     As will be described further herein, the merchant analytics computing device is configured to determine “aggregated merchant analytics” for each sector based at least in part on received transaction data for the merchants located in the sector. The merchant analytics are indicative of the financial success of the sector relative to other sectors in that geographic region. For example, the merchant analytics computing device rank or score a sector relative to other sectors in a county or in a state. In one example embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device is configured to determine and provide merchant analytics, which may include a numerical score, for a sector based on aggregated merchant analytics for individual merchants located within the sector. For example, if a sector includes five merchants, the merchant analytics computing device may process transaction data for each individual merchant to generate analytics for each particular merchant. The merchant analytics computing device may then aggregate the individual analytics to determine “aggregated merchant analytics” for the sector as a whole. A weighted average may also be used, which may give more weight to certain merchants in the sector. Alternatively, the merchant analytics computing device may determine the aggregated merchant analytics for the sector using any other aggregation or combination of the individual merchant analytics. 
     The merchant analytics computing device may define or establish the sectors before receiving the transaction data. For example, the merchant analytics computing device may use available public information (e.g., census data) to define sectors, each sector including at least five merchants located therein, as described above. In some other embodiments, the merchant analytics computing device may define the sectors using the received transaction data. For example, the merchant analytics computing device may use merchant identifiers included in the transaction data to identify a location of each merchant, and then define the sectors. 
     The merchant analytics computing device may store transaction data, defined sectors, and/or merchant analytics (aggregated and/or individual) in a database. Each merchant for which associated transaction data and/or scores are stored may be indexed or identified in the database by at least one sector identifier and/or by merchant industry. Accordingly, the merchant analytics computing device may be configured to not only provide analytics for sectors, but may also be configured to provide analytics for particular industries and/or for particular merchants within that industry. For example, the merchant analytics computing device may generate merchant analytics for a plurality of sectors in Charlotte, N.C., USA, relative to other sectors in North Carolina and may generate analytics for a particular restaurant in Charlotte relative to other restaurants in the city of Charlotte, the state of North Carolina, or the United States. Moreover, a particular merchant may be indexed by (i.e., be located in) multiple sectors. For example, a merchant at Charlotte-Douglas Airport may be included in a “block” sector (named as such because such a sector may take up an area as small as a city block, in some embodiments the smallest available sector division), a “block group” sector (representative of an area that is small but that includes at least one “block” sector, for example, a census tract), a Mecklenburg County sector, a Charlotte (city) sector, a North Carolina sector, and a United States sector. 
     Setup Phase 
     In the example embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device is configured to receive information describing a merchant in a merchant management portfolio during a configuration period referred to as a “Setup Phase”. In an example embodiment, a user (e.g., a commercial real estate owner or lender, a business owner, or marketing director) may access the merchant analytics computing device (directly or via any suitable client user computing device in communication with the merchant analytics computing device) and may provide such information. Information describing or associated with particular merchants may be referred to as “merchant definitions,” and may be used to identify and/or evaluate (e.g., score) each merchant. Merchant definitions include information associated with merchant locations including property identifiers, property location information, and merchant classification information. In addition, in the example embodiment, merchant definitions further include loan information associated with one or more merchants having a pending loan with the user (e.g., a lender). The user may also provide user preferences, such as goals for the portfolio, user preferences weighting or prioritizing certain characteristics (e.g., growth over stability), and/or alert thresholds, as described further herein. 
     In some implementations, merchant definitions may further include information relating to the real estate asset or property of which the merchant is a tenant (or owner), as described in co-owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/564,440, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference. For example, merchant definitions may further include pricing of a real estate asset, vacancy factors of the asset, square footage of the asset, tax information associated with the asset, and other data that may be used to adjust the analytics (e.g., valuation) of a tenant merchant and/or of a real estate asset. The user may also provide various other data associated with the user (“user data”). For example, in implementations in which the user is associated with a business (e.g., a merchant), the user may import or provide various metrics associated with the business, including budgets, marketing data, and/or goals (e.g., increase growth, increase ticket size, increase traffic). 
     As used herein, “merchant management portfolio” (alternately referred to as a “portfolio”) may refer to a collection of merchants in different locations but managed by or having certain elements associated with one entity or user, generally. For example, a merchant management portfolio may include a listing of all merchants having loans provided by one entity, such as a lender. In the example embodiment, a merchant management portfolio may be described by merchant definitions and/or user data and may be represented as an electronic record that may be referred to as a “merchant management portfolio record” or a “portfolio record”. Accordingly, the merchant analytics computing device processes merchant definitions and any imported user data associated with a plurality of merchants to create a portfolio record. 
     “Property identifiers” may include known names (or any suitable unique alphanumeric identifier) of commercial real estate assets of which a merchant is a tenant, owner, etc. (e.g., “XYZ Mall”). In an example embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device uses property identifiers to designate a location for each merchant within the portfolio record. As described below, a user may accordingly view and manage individual merchants within a portfolio distinguished by identifiers including property identifiers. 
     “Property location information” may include any information defining the geographic location of a merchant. In some examples, property location information may include physical addresses, geographic coordinates in latitude and longitude, elevation information (e.g., a floor or floors of a building associated with a commercial real estate asset), and any other suitable information. In some examples, property location information may include boundary information defining a physical area (or areas) containing the merchant. In an example embodiment, property location information may be used by the merchant analytics computing device to identify the merchant graphically (i.e., to provide visually mapped information showing the physical location of the merchant). 
     “Merchant classification information” includes information categorizing the merchant within categories that may be relevant to the monitoring of the value of the merchant. For example, merchant classification information may categorize a merchant according to a particular industry, location, or other classification, for example, “retail”, “office”, “warehouse”, “manufacturing”, “healthcare,” “outdoor mall”, “indoor mall” and any other suitable information. 
     “Loan information” includes information describing loans provided to any merchant(s) within a merchant management portfolio. For example, loan information for a merchant may include a pending loan amount for that merchant (i.e., the amount of a loan still owed to the lender from the merchant), a total loan amount (i.e., a total amount lent to the merchant by the lender), a repayment schedule (which may include both future anticipated payments and past dates/amounts of payment already made), interest rates, and/or any other information associated with the loan. Loan information may further include aggregate information for two or more loans for one or more merchants within the merchant management portfolio. For example, loan information may include a total pending loan amount for all outstanding loans to all merchants within the portfolio. 
     The merchant analytics computing device may also generate a unique portfolio identifier in the Setup Phase to identify the portfolio record. Accordingly, a user device (operated by a user) may provide such a portfolio identifier at a later point in time and retrieve the portfolio record to review or monitor portfolio defined by the portfolio record. 
     In at least some examples, the user data received by the merchant analytics computing device includes a plurality of investment goals associated with each merchant and/or with the portfolio. At least some parties associated with the portfolio (e.g., commercial owners or lenders, marketing directors, investors, managers) may have varying financial goals for a portfolio. Because investors and lenders may vary in their underlying interests, the merchant analytics computing device may be configured to monitor merchants pursuant to such investment goals. For example, the merchant analytics computing device may be configured to identify certain merchants meeting or exceeding the investment goals and other merchants not meeting the investment goals, such that the investors may make financial decisions regarding the relative worth or success of the various merchants. The merchant analytics computing device may be further configured to provide information (e.g., loan risk scores, described further herein) indicating to the user (e.g., a lender or investor) the relative risk of lending to a merchant (e.g., the relative risk associated with an existing loan and/or the relative risk of providing a new loan to a merchant) based upon the relative financial success of the merchant. The user data may also include various specifications descriptive of existing merchants and/or merchant locations in the portfolio or descriptive of merchants and/or merchant locations outside of the portfolio (in the case of a commercial real estate broker looking to buy, rent, or lease a merchant location). 
     In one particular example, a business may own, or otherwise be associated with, multiple merchants at multiple merchant locations. A user interested in the marketing money invested in the various merchants (e.g., a marketing director or Chief Marketing Officer) may import investment goals to the merchant analytics computing device that accord with the goals of the business. For example, the user may have a marketing budget of $500 million. The investment goals may prioritize the merchants with the highest growth, such that a higher percentage of the marketing budget may be spent near those merchants. The investment goals may alternatively prioritize merchants with the highest traffic, highest ticket size, or highest stability. Accordingly, as will be described further herein, the merchant analytics computing device may use the investment goals to identify the merchant(s) with the strongest merchant analytics (e.g., highest scores) to the user. 
     In another particular example, a lender (e.g., a bank) may provide loans to a plurality of merchants at multiple merchant locations. A user interested in determining the relative risk of a merchant loan may import loan information and lending goals to the merchant analytics computing device. The lending goals may identify metrics associated with merchants and/or loans that the lender considers either positive or negative, such that those merchants or loans having associated metrics falling within the positive or negative thresholds or ranges will be identified to the user. Accordingly as will be described further herein, the merchant analytics computing device may use the lending goals to identify the merchant(s) with the highest and/or the lowest likelihood of successfully repaying loans provided by the user. 
     In addition, the user may provide alert thresholds or other alert preferences to the merchant analytics computing device. The alert thresholds may set a specific threshold, such that when a score falls below (or above, depending on the scale of a score) that threshold, the merchant analytics computing device generates an alert the user. The alert may be transmitted to the user in any format. In one example embodiment, the alert is transmitted in a control message that causes a user computing device of the user to activate and display the alert to the user. 
     Evaluation Phase 
     In an example embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device generates analytics (e.g., a score) associated with a merchant or a sector in a process that may be referred to as the “Evaluation Phase”. The merchant analytics computing device is configured to generate the analytics based on received transaction data associated with the merchant or sector. As used herein, “transaction data” may include transaction amounts, merchant identifiers, account identifiers, associated time and date stamps, and data descriptive of the product(s) purchased. Merchant identifiers may include an identifier of the merchant at which the transaction was initiated as well as an identifier of the physical location (e.g., a street address, geographic coordinates, etc.) of the merchant. 
     In the example embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device receives transaction data from a payment processor integral to or associated with a payment processing network. In some embodiments, the transaction data is anonymized and aggregated by merchant prior to receipt by the merchant analytics computing device (i.e., no personally identifiable information (PII) is received by the merchant analytics computing device). In other embodiments, the merchant analytics computing device may be configured to receive transaction data that is not yet anonymized and/or aggregated, and thus may be configured to anonymize and aggregate the transaction data. In such embodiments, any PII received by the merchant analytics computing device is received and processed in an encrypted format, or is received with the consent of the individual with which the PII is associated. In situations in which the systems discussed herein collect personal information about individuals including cardholders or merchants, or may make use of such personal information, the individuals may be provided with an opportunity to control whether such information is collected or to control whether and/or how such information is used. In addition, certain data may be processed in one or more ways before it is stored or used, so that personally identifiable information is removed. 
     The merchant analytics computing device may generate multiple merchant analytics for each merchant and may generate “aggregated merchant analytics” for each sector. Aggregated merchant analytics refer generally to an average, weighted average, or any other aggregation of individual merchant analytics generated for merchants located in the sector. For example, the “merchant analytics” may include at least one of a growth score, a stability score, a size score, a ticket size score, a traffic score, and a composite score for each sector. A “growth score” is a ranking of the growth of the sector relative to other sectors in the geographic region, wherein “growth” refers generally to sales revenue growth over a period of time. A “stability score” is a ranking of the stability of the sector, wherein “stability” refers generally to a maintenance of sales revenue within a range of sales revenues around an average. A “size score” is a ranking of the size of the sector, wherein “size” refers generally to total sales revenue. A “traffic score” is a ranking of the traffic of the sector, wherein “traffic” refers generally to a number of monthly transactions. A “ticket size score” is a ranking of the ticket size of the sector, wherein “ticket size” refers generally to a transaction amount, and may be calculated by dividing the size by the traffic (i.e., dividing sales revenue by the number of transactions). A “composite score” is a composite of the previous five scores (growth, stability, size, traffic, and ticket size), to provide an overall ranking of the sector. 
     A “loan risk score” is a ranking of a relative risk of the sector or relative likelihood of merchants within the sector repaying loans provided thereto. The loan risk score may be calculated by leveraging one or more of the above-described scores and pending loan amounts for merchants having pending loans within the sector. For example, sectors having high traffic scores and/or high growth scores may have a low loan risk score representing a low risk for lending to a merchant in that sector, as the merchant is likely to exhibit high traffic and/or high growth. If that same sector has a high pending loan amount, however, the loan risk score may be relatively higher, indicating that there is a high outstanding amount of money due from merchants in that sector and it may not be an effective strategy to continue to lend to merchants all within the same area. It should be understood that the relative effect of certain scores on a loan risk score may vary depending on the user (e.g., based upon lending goals, investment goals, etc.). For instance, a first user (e.g., lender or investor) may choose to prioritize or weight stability over size, and a second user may choose to prioritize growth over ticket size. 
     In the example embodiment, the loan risk score is calculated based upon at least one other score for a sector and a total pending loan amount for merchants having loans within that score. For example, a loan risk score for one sector within a portfolio may be calculated using Equation 1: 
       Loan risk score=Loan Amount Pending for a sector (as a percentage of a Total Loan Amount)*(Average “Base Score” over portfolio/“Base Score” for a sector)/Average Loan Amount Pending over portfolio  (1)
 
     The “Base Score” represents one or more of the above-described scores (e.g., growth, size, traffic, ticket size, stability, composite). Calculating the loan risk score using Equation 1 may be generally described as multiplying the total pending loan amount for a sector by a normalization of the “Base Score” for the sector (e.g., an average of the “Base Score” divided by the individual “Base Score”) and dividing by an average pending loan amount for all sectors. In one particular example, a loan score may be calculated based upon growth (e.g., for a user that has prioritized high growth within a sector as the most important characteristic of that sector). In such an example, the “Base Score” in Equation 1 would be the growth score. It should be understood that Equation 1 is illustrative only and any number of equation, models, or algorithms may be used to calculate a loan risk score based upon one or more other scores. 
       FIG. 18  illustrates one example of a lender portfolio  1800 . In this example, the portfolio  1800  includes merchant loans within ten sectors (Sector  1  through Sector  10 ). Growth, Stability, and Size Scores are all computed and displayed (as described herein) for the sectors. The Composite Score, in this particular example, is an average of the previous five scores (although Traffic and Ticket Size Scores are not shown in the example Table). The portfolio  1800  also includes Total Loan Amount for each sector, and a Loan Amount Pending for the sector (represented as a percentage of the Total Loan Amount). Loan risk scores based upon growth, stability, and size are all calculated according to Equation 1. 
     In certain embodiments, the portfolio may be sorted or optimized (as described herein) to display sectors with lower or higher risk at the top of the portfolio. Additionally or alternatively, the displayed loan risk scores (and/or other scores) may be color-coded or otherwise visually identified based upon the relative loan risk score. For instance, scores higher than an average loan risk score may be highlighted in red, indicating higher relative risk, whereas scores lower than an average loan risk score may be highlighted in green, indicating lower relative risk. Various gradations of color (e.g., lighter red vs. darker red) may further indicate relative risk. 
     Where the general term “score” without a modifier is used herein, it may refer collectively to any or all of the preceding scores to describe characteristics shared by some or all of the scores. Each of these scores (collectively “analytics”) may be generated for each merchant within a sector and may be subsequently aggregated to generate aggregated merchant analytics for the sector. 
     In the example embodiment, a score may be normalized to be between 0 and 1,000. In some embodiments, a higher score indicates a “better” sector (i.e., a higher relative ranking). For example, a sector with a score of 800 may rank higher on any or all of the above-described factors than a sector with a score of 300. Some scores, such as the loan risk score, may not be normalized. Moreover, a higher score may indicate a “worse” sector (i.e., a lower relative ranking). For example, a sector with a loan risk score of 0.5 may have a lower relative loan risk than a sector with a loan risk score of 1.0. A “better” sector refers to a sector that is preferred over other sectors (or is performing better) based upon the financial transactions performed at merchants located within that sector. 
     In the example embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device receives transaction data associated with merchants that spans a period of time. For example, the merchant analytics computing device may receive and process transaction data for a merchant or sector that spans between one month and at least two years prior to the date of receipt. Accordingly, the merchant analytics computing device may generate the analytics as functions of time. For example, a growth score would be meaningless if there were no transaction data for a past date from which to determine relative growth. In the example embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device generates analytics for each merchant and/or sector using 12 months&#39; or one year&#39;s worth of transaction data for the merchant and/or sector. Accordingly, a growth score is representative of the growth of the sector over the past year, the stability score is representative of the stability of the sector over the past year, etc. In other embodiments, the merchant analytics computing device may be further configured to determine a “spot” score of any of the above-described scores, wherein a “spot” score refers generally to a score calculated for a shorter period of time, for example, three months as opposed to twelve months. The spot score may be used to determine changes in the characteristics of the merchant over a short period of time that may be masked or hidden when scoring the merchant over a year. For example, if a merchant debuted a new, highly anticipated product two months ago, a dramatic increase in sales growth over those two months may be dulled by looking at the full year&#39;s growth. As another example, if a sector (e.g., a particular city neighborhood) enacted multiple marketing campaigns over the course of a year, it may be difficult to determine which particular campaign was the most effective in increasing traffic, if the entire year&#39;s worth of transaction data is used to score the sector. 
     In one embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device may determine a growth score for a merchant using the received transaction data over a period of time (e.g., a year). The merchant analytics computing device determines the increase or decrease in the sales revenue for the merchant over that year based on the aggregation of all of the transaction data associated with the merchant. Additionally or alternatively, the growth for a merchant may be calculated by fitting total sales revenue to a regression line and tracking resulting slopes. Additionally or alternatively, quarterly sales revenue (i.e., 3-months&#39; worth of sales revenue data) may be calculated and compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. As the growth score is a relative ranking, the merchant analytics computing device may compare the determined growth of each merchant prior to providing the numerical growth score for each merchant. The merchant analytics computing device may then use the growth scores of all of the merchants in a sector to determine an aggregated growth score for the sector (e.g., an average or weighted average of the merchant growth scores for the merchants within the sector). Alternatively, the merchant analytics computing device may use the determined growth of each merchant in a sector to determine an aggregated growth score for the sector and may subsequently compare sectors. The merchant analytics computing device may then provide the (numerical) growth score for the sector. 
     In one embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device may determine a stability score for a merchant using the received transaction data over a period of time (e.g., a year). The stability of a merchant is a metric or analytic of the volatility of the merchant&#39;s cash flow. The merchant analytics computing device may determine an average sales revenue for the merchant over a year or may receive an average sales revenue for the merchant (which may be an “expected” average sales revenue or other value received from a user associated with the merchant or may be retrieved from a database). The merchant analytics computing device may then determine a range around that average (e.g., one standard deviation, a certain percentage or fraction of the average, or any other suitable range) which indicates stable sales revenue. Using aggregated transaction data, the merchant analytics computing device identifies whether the merchant had sales revenue within that range. Falling outside of the range indicates less stable sales revenue and lowers the ranking of the merchant in terms of stability. The merchant analytics computing device may use monthly transaction data to determine, at each month, whether the merchant had sales revenue within the predetermined range. Alternatively, the merchant analytics computing device may use transaction data from any other interval (i.e., each week, every two weeks, over the year, etc.) to determine the stability of the sales revenue of the merchant. As the stability score is a relative ranking, the merchant analytics computing device may compare the determined stability of each merchant prior to providing the numerical stability score for each merchant. The merchant analytics computing device may then use the stability scores of all of the merchants in a sector to determine an aggregated stability score for the sector (e.g., an average or weighted average of the merchant stability scores for the merchants within the sector). Alternatively, the merchant analytics computing device may use the determined stability of each merchant in a sector to determine an aggregated stability score for the sector and may subsequently compare sectors. The merchant analytics computing device may then provide the (numerical) stability score for the sector. 
     In one embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device may determine a size score for a merchant using the received transaction data associated with the merchant over a period of time (e.g., a year). The size metric or analytic may be considered a proxy analytic for how large a particular merchant or business is. The merchant analytics computing device may aggregate the total sales revenue for the merchant for each month in the year, or over the whole year. As the size score is a relative ranking, the merchant analytics computing device may compare the determined size of each merchant prior to providing the numerical size score for each merchant. The merchant analytics computing device may then use the size scores of all of the merchants in a sector to determine an aggregated size score for the sector (e.g., an average or weighted average of the merchant size scores for the merchants within the sector). Alternatively, the merchant analytics computing device may use the determined size of each merchant in a sector to determine an aggregated size score for the sector and may subsequently compare sectors. The merchant analytics computing device may then provide the (numerical) size score for the sector. 
     In one embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device may determine the traffic score for a merchant using the received transaction data over a period of time (e.g., a year). The merchant analytics computing device may identify a number of transactions completed at the merchant for the entire year to determine the traffic for the merchant, or may identify the number of transactions for each month in the year. Additionally or alternatively, other data may be used to determine the traffic at a merchant, including mobile device signal data, as described in co-owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/708,020, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. As the traffic score is a relative ranking, the merchant analytics computing device may compare the determined traffic of each merchant prior to providing the numerical traffic score for each merchant. The merchant analytics computing device may then use the traffic scores of all of the merchants in a sector to determine an aggregated traffic score for the sector (e.g., an average or weighted average of the merchant traffic scores for the merchants within the sector). Alternatively, the merchant analytics computing device may use the determined traffic of each merchant in a sector to determine an aggregated traffic score for the sector and may subsequently compare sectors. The merchant analytics computing device may then provide the (numerical) traffic score for the sector. 
     In one embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device may determine a ticket size score for a merchant using the received transaction data over a period of time (e.g., a year) and/or using the determined size and traffic for the merchant. The ticket size (also referred to herein as an “average ticket size”) enables improved visibility into the types of merchant in a sector. A low average ticket size, for example, around $5, may indicate a sector includes restaurants or coffee shops. A higher average ticket size, for example, around $2,000, may indicate a sector includes jewelry stores, electronics merchants, or furniture stores. The merchant analytics computing device may calculate the ticket size for the merchant by dividing a sales revenue of the merchant by a number of transactions. Alternatively, the merchant analytics computing device may calculate the ticket size by dividing a size of the merchant as determined above, by a traffic of the merchant, as determined above. As the ticket size score is a relative ranking, the merchant analytics computing device may compare the determined ticket size of each merchant prior to providing the numerical ticket size score for each merchant. The merchant analytics computing device may then use the ticket size scores of all of the merchants in a sector to determine an aggregated ticket size score for the sector (e.g., an average or weighted average of the merchant ticket size scores for the merchants within the sector). Alternatively, the merchant analytics computing device may use the determined ticket size of each merchant in a sector to determine an aggregated ticket size score for the sector and may subsequently compare sectors. The merchant analytics computing device may then provide the (numerical) ticket size score for the sector. 
     In one embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device may determine a composite score for a merchant based on the growth, stability, size, traffic, and/or ticket size score for the merchant. The composite score may be an average of all five scores, may be a weighted average of all five scores, or may be any other combination or aggregation of the five scores for the merchant location. The composite score for a sector may be an average of all five scores, may be a weighted average of all five scores, or may be any other combination or aggregation of the five scores for the sector (e.g., an average or weighted average of the merchant composite scores for the merchants within the sector). Alternatively, the composite score for a sector may be an average, weighted average, or any other aggregation of the composite scores of the merchants in the sector. The composite score is intended to be an “at-a-glance” ranking of the relative success of the sector, taken as a function of the five identified characteristics that may reflect the success of a business. 
     In one embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device may determine a loan risk score for a merchant using the received transaction data over a period of time (e.g., a year) as well as loan information input to the merchant analytics computing device by a user (e.g., a manager of a merchant loan portfolio). More particularly, the merchant analytics computing device determines the loan risk score using one or more already-determined scores (described above), the loan information, and other input from the user. The merchant analytics computing device accesses one or more user preferences to build an algorithm that weights one or more of the scores and the pending loan information according to the user preferences. In some embodiments, the merchant analytics computing device may access a default algorithm if the user has not provided user preferences or provides conflicting user preferences. The merchant analytics computing device may access one or more rules that define how to build a custom algorithm or when to use a default algorithm based upon the received user preferences. The loan risk score facilitates improved visibility into the potential risk of lending to a merchant, or a relative likelihood that the merchant will successfully repay a loan. The loan risk score may be applied to existing merchants loans, such that a lender or investor has a more thorough picture of repayment risk of existing loans. Additionally or alternatively, the loan risk score may be applied to new merchant loans, such that a lender or investor may have another data point to use in determining whether a loan should be provided to a merchant within a particular sector. The loan risk score may be determined for sectors including a threshold number of merchants already having loans provided thereto. 
     In some embodiments, the merchant analytics computing device may be configured to generate and store merchant analytics for a merchant and/or a sector over multiple periods of time. For example, the merchant analytics computing device may initially generate a score based on data having timestamps from Jun. 1, 2013-Jun. 1, 2014 and may store that score as Score  1 . The merchant analytics computing device may then generate a score based on data having timestamps from Jul. 1, 2013-Jul. 1, 2014, and may store that score as Score  2 . The merchant analytics computing device may store N scores (or any other analytics) for a merchant and/or a sector, wherein N is an integer greater than one. Accordingly, the merchant analytics computing device may store a time series of scores (or any other analytics) for a merchant and/or a sector, which collects all N scores for the merchant and/or the sector sequentially (i.e., in order of time, from oldest to newest). In such embodiments, the merchant analytics computing device may use multiple scores to generate score trends. 
     In one embodiment, the merchant analytics computing device may update a portfolio record with any or all of the analytics for a merchant and/or any or all aggregated merchant analytics for a sector in which the merchant is located. The merchant analytics computing device may be configured to determine analytics for the portfolio as a whole, using the generated analytics for each merchant in the portfolio and/or each corresponding sector. The merchant analytics computing device may be further configured to sort the merchants in a portfolio based on the investment goals for the portfolio. For example, if an investment goal identifies growth as a priority, the merchant analytics computing device may sort the merchant records in the portfolio record according to highest growth score. If there are no investment goals or if there are conflicting investment goals, the merchant analytics computing device may sort the merchant records in the portfolio according to highest composite score. As another example, the merchant analytics computing device may sort the merchants according to the loan risk score, identifying the riskiest sectors or merchants therein first to indicate to the user those merchants that may be least likely to repay outstanding loans. 
     Optimization Phase 
     The system is also configured to facilitate optimization of portfolios in an “Optimization Phase.” In one example, the system is configured to sort the merchant records in the portfolio according to the goals (e.g., investment goals) of a user. As described briefly above, some users may be responsible for or otherwise interested in a distribution of a marketing budget according to the investment goals, in some cases prioritizing growth or traffic or stability, as desired. If the user (a CMO, in this example, for illustrative purposes only) has a specific, predetermined budget and predetermined investment goals, the system may enable the CMO to distribute the budget based on the evaluation of all of the merchants in the CMO&#39;s portfolio. If, for example, the CMO chose to prioritize growth in his/her investment goals for his/her associated business, the system may sort the merchant location records in the portfolio from highest growth score to lowest growth score and may present the results as a list. In some implementations, the CMO may import more specific investment goals to the system. For example, the CMO may indicate that 15% of his/her budget is to be spent on the top 5% of merchants in the portfolio with the highest growth. The next 15% is to be spent on the 10% of merchants with the next-highest growth. The next 10% is to be spent on the 10% of the merchants with the next-highest growth, and so on and so forth. The system may use these specific investment goals and output an optimized portfolio record that divides the merchant records into the desired percentiles. 
     In another example, the system is configured to provide recommendations for new locations for merchants using existing merchant records in a portfolio. In this example, a user (a real estate broker, for illustrative purposes only) may have received an offer from a merchant to rent (or lease) a merchant location (e.g., a property or a portion of a property). The merchant may have a particular sector in mind, or may have indicated in the offer that he/she desires a merchant location having certain specifications (e.g., a merchant location in a high-traffic sector). The real estate broker may import the specifications into the system, which may output an optimized portfolio to the real estate broker including sector records of sectors including available merchant locations having the specifications. Alternatively, the real estate broker may use the system to locate and/or suggest a sector other than the particular sector identified in the offer, by illustrating (using a user interface provided by the system) higher performance (e.g., higher traffic or higher growth) in a different sector. In another related example, the real estate broker may have an existing client complaining of poor performance at his/her merchant location. The real estate broker may illustrate (using the user interface provided by the system) slowing growth or traffic trends in the client&#39;s current sector, and may suggest relocation to a sector with higher recent performance. 
     In yet another example, the system is configured to provide recommendations to a user on whether or not to offer a loan to a merchant. In this example, the user (a lender or investor, for illustrative purposes only) may have received a request from a merchant for a loan. The merchant is located in a particular sector, wishes to relocate or add a location in that sector, and/or is determining a sector to relocate to/add a location in. The lender may import specifications of the loan and/or particular loan repayment specifications into the system, which may output an optimized portfolio to the lender including sector loan risk scores that leverage outstanding and/or completed (i.e., repaid) loans from merchants within particular sectors. The optimized portfolio may highlight (e.g., by placing at the top of a sector list) a sector with strong growth and high traffic that has a loan risk score indicating a low risk for lending to or investing in a merchant in that sector. The optimized portfolio may display detailed aggregated merchant analytics for the merchant&#39;s current sector, as compared to one or more other sectors, such that the lender may have a perspective on the relative loan risk in one sector compared to other sectors. 
     User Interface 
     The merchant analytics computing device is further configured to facilitate the display of an interactive graphical user interface (UI). The UI may be displayed on a user computing device of a user. The UI is configured such that the user may easily view aggregated merchant analytics for a sector and/or for a particular industry, for example, as a graphical representation displayed relative to a portfolio (e.g., as a table) and/or on a map. In one embodiment, the UI is populated with data that is updated on a monthly basis, however, in other embodiments, the UI may be populated with data updated at any other interval (e.g., weekly, daily, etc.). 
     In the example embodiment, the user may search by location to find a geographic region (e.g., state, city, zip code, zip+4, county, neighborhood) in which the user is interested. The UI displays the geographic location on a map divided into defined sectors. In some embodiments, the UI enables a user to “zoom in” and “zoom out” on the view. Zooming in may provide a view of the sectors at a more granular level. Zooming out may provide a view of sectors aggregated into larger geographic regions, for example, by city, county, or state. In the example embodiment, displayed sectors are colored or shaded according to the strength of generated merchant analytics, wherein a darker or more saturated color or shade indicates stronger analytics (e.g., more successful sectors). Accordingly, the user may easily discern sectors with stronger analytics, with only a single glance. In other embodiments, lighter colors may indicate stronger analytics. In still other embodiments, the sectors may not be colored or shaded at all. 
     As will be described further herein, the UI may provide to user an option to view sectors according to different metrics (e.g., according to the various scores described above included within the merchant analytics). The UI may also allow the user to switch between a “street map” view, in which the divisions of defined sectors are overlaid upon a traditional street map, and a “satellite view”, in which the defined sectors are overlaid upon satellite imagery of the geographic region. Accordingly, depending on the view, users may be able to more easily understand the delineations between sectors and the geographical advantages that may serve certain sectors over others. In addition, as will be described further herein, the UI may provide other tools to the user for navigation of the merchant analytics and for a “deeper dive” into the granularity of the analytics. 
     The systems and methods herein are configured to leverage transaction data and loan information and perform calculation therewith that were previously inaccessible and/or not performed by other systems. Specifically, the systems and methods herein facilitate providing insight into merchant performance in an anonymous and/or aggregated fashion, using sector analytics that obscure individualized data while still enhancing a user&#39;s knowledge of a merchant&#39;s potential and/or likely performance. Accordingly, the systems and methods are configured to provide at least one of the following technical effects: (a) integration of transaction data into the generation of merchant analytics by linking transaction data received from interchange networks (or payment networks) to such analytics, (b) improvement of the visualization of sector value or success, relative to other sectors and over time, and/or (c) optimization of investment by using objective evaluations of relative success of certain sectors and/or merchants over others. 
     The technical effects of the systems and methods described herein can be achieved by performing at least one of the following steps: (i) defining a plurality of sectors of a geographic region; (ii) receiving transaction data for financial transactions occurring within a period of time, the transaction data associated with a plurality of merchants, the plurality of merchants located in the geographic region; (iii) identifying, for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, one sector of the plurality of sectors in which the merchant is located; (iv) generating aggregated merchant analytics for each sector based on the transaction data associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants located in the sector, wherein the aggregated merchant analytics represent a ranking of each sector relative to all other sectors of the plurality of sectors; (v) determining a total pending loan amount for a subset of the plurality of sectors, each sector in the subset of sectors having at least a predetermined number of merchants having loans issued thereto; (vi) calculating a loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors based upon the aggregated merchant analytics and the total pending loan amount for each sector; and/or (vii) displaying, by the merchant analytics computing device, on a user interface of the user computing device, the loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors, wherein the loan risk score is graphically displayed in association with a merchant loan portfolio. 
     The following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detailed description does not limit the claims. 
     Described herein are computer systems such as merchant analytics computing devices and user computer systems. As described herein, all such computer systems include a processor and a memory. However, any processor in a computer device referred to herein may also refer to one or more processors wherein the processor may be in one computing device or a plurality of computing devices acting in parallel. Additionally, any memory in a computer device referred to herein may also refer to one or more memories wherein the memories may be in one computing device or a plurality of computing devices acting in parallel. 
     As used herein, a processor may include any programmable system including systems using micro-controllers, reduced instruction set circuits (RISC), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), logic circuits, and any other circuit or processor capable of executing the functions described herein. The above examples are example only, and are thus not intended to limit in any way the definition and/or meaning of the term “processor.” 
     As used herein, the term “database” may refer to either a body of data, a relational database management system (RDBMS), or to both. As used herein, a database may include any collection of data including hierarchical databases, relational databases, flat file databases, object-relational databases, object oriented databases, and any other structured collection of records or data that is stored in a computer system. The above examples are example only, and thus are not intended to limit in any way the definition and/or meaning of the term database. Examples of RDBMS&#39;s include, but are not limited to including, Oracle® Database, MySQL, IBM® DB2, Microsoft® SQL Server, Sybase®, and PostgreSQL. However, any database may be used that enables the systems and methods described herein. (Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, Calif.; IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y.; Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash.; and Sybase is a registered trademark of Sybase, Dublin, Calif.) 
     In one embodiment, a computer program is provided, and the program is embodied on a computer readable medium. In an example embodiment, the system is executed on a single computer system, without requiring a connection to a sever computer. In a further embodiment, the system is being run in a Windows® environment (Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash.). In yet another embodiment, the system is run on a mainframe environment and a UNIX® server environment (UNIX is a registered trademark of X/Open Company Limited located in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom). The application is flexible and designed to run in various different environments without compromising any major functionality. In some embodiments, the system includes multiple components distributed among a plurality of computing devices. One or more components may be in the form of computer-executable instructions embodied in a computer-readable medium. 
     As used herein, an element or step recited in the singular and proceeded with the word “a” or “an” should be understood as not excluding plural elements or steps, unless such exclusion is explicitly recited. Furthermore, references to “example embodiment” or “one embodiment” of the present disclosure are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. 
     As used herein, the terms “software” and “firmware” are interchangeable, and include any computer program stored in memory for execution by a processor, including RAM memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, and non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) memory. The above memory types are example only, and are thus not limiting as to the types of memory usable for storage of a computer program. 
     As used herein, the terms “transaction card,” “financial transaction card,” and “payment card” refer to any suitable transaction card, such as a credit card, a debit card, a prepaid card, a charge card, a membership card, a promotional card, a frequent flyer card, an identification card, a prepaid card, a gift card, and/or any other device that may hold payment account information, such as mobile phones, Smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), key fobs, and/or computers. Each type of transactions card can be used as a method of payment for performing a transaction. In addition, consumer card account behavior can include but is not limited to purchases, management activities (e.g., balance checking), bill payments, achievement of targets (meeting account balance goals, paying bills on time), and/or product registrations (e.g., mobile application downloads). 
     The systems and processes are not limited to the specific embodiments described herein. In addition, components of each system and each process can be practiced independent and separate from other components and processes described herein. Each component and process also can be used in combination with other assembly packages and processes. 
     The following detailed description illustrates embodiments of the disclosure by way of example and not by way of limitation. It is contemplated that the disclosure has general application to the generation and communication (e.g., display) of aggregate merchant valuation analytics. 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating an example multi-party payment card system  20  for enabling payment-by-card transactions to facilitate generating aggregated merchant analytics for a sector, in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG. 1  depicts a flow of data in a financial transaction through system  20 , which includes a merchant analysis computing device  112 . Components of system  20  provide merchant analysis computing device  112  with transaction data, which merchant analysis computing device  112  processes to generate merchant analytics and provide the analytics on a user interface. 
     Embodiments described herein may relate to a transaction card system, such as a credit card payment system using the MasterCard® interchange network. The MasterCard® interchange network is a set of proprietary communications standards promulgated by MasterCard International Incorporated® for the exchange of financial transaction data and the settlement of funds between financial institutions that are members of MasterCard International Incorporated®. (MasterCard is a registered trademark of MasterCard International Incorporated located in Purchase, N.Y.). 
     In a transaction card system, a financial institution called the “issuer” issues a transaction card, such as a credit card, to a consumer or cardholder  22 , who uses the transaction card to tender payment for a purchase from a merchant  24 . Cardholder  22  may purchase goods and services (“products”) at merchant  24 . Cardholder  22  may make such purchases using virtual forms of the transaction card and, more specifically, by providing data related to the transaction card (e.g., the transaction card number, expiration date, associated postal code, and security code) to initiate transactions. To accept payment with the transaction card or virtual forms of the transaction card, merchant  24  must normally establish an account with a financial institution that is part of the financial payment system. This financial institution is usually called the “merchant bank,” the “acquiring bank,” or the “acquirer.” When cardholder  22  tenders payment for a purchase with a transaction card or virtual transaction card, merchant  24  requests authorization from a merchant bank  26  for the amount of the purchase. The request may be performed over the telephone or electronically, but is usually performed through the use of a point-of-sale terminal, which reads cardholder&#39;s  22  account information from a magnetic stripe, a chip, or embossed characters on the transaction card and communicates electronically with the transaction processing computers of merchant bank  26 . Merchant  24  receives cardholder&#39;s  22  account information as provided by cardholder  22 . Alternatively, merchant bank  26  may authorize a third party to perform transaction processing on its behalf. In this case, the point-of-sale terminal will be configured to communicate with the third party. Such a third party is usually called a “merchant processor,” an “acquiring processor,” or a “third party processor.” 
     Using an interchange network  28 , computers of merchant bank  26  or merchant processor will communicate with computers of an issuer bank  30  to determine whether cardholder&#39;s  22  account  32  is in good standing and whether the purchase is covered by cardholder&#39;s  22  available credit line. Based on these determinations, the request for authorization will be declined or accepted. If the request is accepted, an authorization code is issued to merchant  24 . 
     When a request for authorization is accepted, the available credit line of cardholder&#39;s  22  account  32  is decreased. Normally, a charge for a payment card transaction is not posted immediately to cardholder&#39;s  22  account  32  because bankcard associations, such as MasterCard International Incorporated®, have promulgated rules that do not allow merchant  24  to charge, or “capture,” a transaction until products are shipped or services are delivered. However, with respect to at least some debit card transactions, a charge may be posted at the time of the transaction. When merchant  24  ships or delivers the products or services, merchant  24  captures the transaction by, for example, appropriate data entry procedures on the point-of-sale terminal. This may include bundling of approved transactions daily for standard retail purchases. If cardholder  22  cancels a transaction before it is captured, a “void” is generated. If cardholder  22  returns products after the transaction has been captured, a “credit” is generated. Interchange network  28  and/or issuer bank  30  stores the transaction card information, such as a type of merchant, amount of purchase, date of purchase, in a database  120  (shown in  FIG. 2 ). 
     After a purchase has been made, a clearing process occurs to transfer additional transaction data related to the purchase among the parties to the transaction, such as merchant bank  26 , interchange network  28 , and issuer bank  30 . More specifically, during and/or after the clearing process, additional data, such as a time of purchase, a merchant name, a type of merchant, purchase information, cardholder account information, a type of transaction, information regarding the purchased item and/or service, and/or other suitable information, is associated with a transaction and transmitted between parties to the transaction as transaction data, and may be stored by any of the parties to the transaction. In the example embodiment, transaction data including such additional transaction data may also be provided to systems including merchant analytics computing device  112 . In the example embodiment, interchange network  28  provides such transaction data (including merchant data associated with merchant tenants of each commercial real estate asset of each portfolio record) and additional transaction data. In alternative embodiments, any party may provide such data to merchant analytics computing device  112 . 
     After a transaction is authorized and cleared, the transaction is settled among merchant  24 , merchant bank  26 , and issuer bank  30 . Settlement refers to the transfer of financial data or funds among merchant&#39;s  24  account, merchant bank  26 , and issuer bank  30  related to the transaction. Usually, transactions are captured and accumulated into a “batch,” which is settled as a group. More specifically, a transaction is typically settled between issuer bank  30  and interchange network  28 , and then between interchange network  28  and merchant bank  26 , and then between merchant bank  26  and merchant  24 . 
     As described below in more detail, merchant analytics computing device  112  may be used to generate and communicate aggregated merchant analytics. Although the systems described herein are not intended to be limited to facilitate such applications, the systems are described as such for exemplary purposes. 
       FIG. 2  is an expanded block diagram of an example embodiment of a computer system  100  used in processing payment transactions that includes merchant analytics computing device  112  in accordance with one example embodiment of the present disclosure. In the example embodiment, system  100  is used for generating merchant analytics and displaying said analytics on a user interface, as described herein. 
     More specifically, in the example embodiment, system  100  includes a merchant analytics computing device  112 , and a plurality of client sub-systems, also referred to as client systems  114 , connected to merchant analytics computing device  112 . In one embodiment, client systems  114  are computers including a web browser, such that merchant analytics computing device  112  is accessible to client systems  114  using the Internet and/or using network  115 . Client systems  114  are interconnected to the Internet through many interfaces including a network  115 , such as a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), dial-in-connections, cable modems, special high-speed Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) lines, and RDT networks. Client systems  114  may include systems associated with cardholders  22  (shown in  FIG. 1 ) as well as external systems used to store data. Merchant analytics computing device  112  is also in communication with payment network  28  using network  115 . Further, client systems  114  may additionally communicate with payment network  28  using network  115 . Client systems  114  could be any device capable of interconnecting to the Internet including a web-based phone, PDA, or other web-based connectable equipment. 
     A database server  116  is connected to database  120 , which contains information on a variety of matters, as described below in greater detail. In one embodiment, centralized database  120  is stored on merchant analytics computing device  112  and can be accessed by potential users at one of client systems  114  by logging onto merchant analytics computing device  112  through one of client systems  114 . In an alternative embodiment, database  120  is stored remotely from merchant analytics computing device  112  and may be non-centralized. Database  120  may be a database configured to store information used by merchant analytics computing device  112  including, for example, transaction data, defined sectors, merchant definitions, user data, portfolio records, merchant scores, and sector scores. 
     Database  120  may include a single database having separated sections or partitions, or may include multiple databases, each being separate from each other. Database  120  may store transaction data generated over the processing network including data relating to merchants, consumers, account holders, prospective customers, issuers, acquirers, and/or purchases made. Database  120  may also store account data including at least one of a cardholder name, a cardholder address, an account number, other account identifiers, and transaction information. Database  120  may also store merchant information including a merchant identifier that identifies each merchant registered to use the network, and instructions for settling transactions including merchant bank account information. Database  120  may also store purchase data associated with items being purchased by a cardholder from a merchant, and authorization request data. Database  120  may additionally store loan information, portfolio information, and/or user information. 
     In the example embodiment, one of client systems  114  may be associated with one of acquirer bank  26  (shown in  FIG. 1 ) and issuer bank  30  (also shown in  FIG. 1 ). For example, one of client systems  114  may be a POS device. Client systems  114  may additionally or alternatively be associated with a user (e.g., a commercial real estate owner or lender, a marketing director, a consumer, or any other end user). In the example embodiment, one of client systems  114  includes a user interface  118 . For example, user interface  118  may include a graphical user interface with interactive functionality, such that aggregated merchant analytics, transmitted from merchant analytics computing device  112  to client system  114 , may be shown in a graphical format. A user of client system  114  may interact with user interface  118  to view, explore, and otherwise interact with the merchant analytics. Merchant analytics computing device  112  may be associated with interchange network  28  and/or may process transaction data. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an example configuration of a server system  301  such as merchant analytics computing device  112  (shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 ) used to generate merchant analytics and present said analytics on an interactive user interface, in accordance with one example embodiment of the present disclosure. Server system  301  may also include, but is not limited to, database server  116 . In the example embodiment, server system  301  determines and analyzes characteristics of devices used in payment transactions, as described below. 
     Server system  301  includes a processor  305  for executing instructions. Instructions may be stored in a memory area  310 , for example. Processor  305  may include one or more processing units (e.g., in a multi-core configuration) for executing instructions. The instructions may be executed within a variety of different operating systems on the server system  301 , such as UNIX, LINUX, Microsoft Windows®, etc. It should also be appreciated that upon initiation of a computer-based method, various instructions may be executed during initialization. Some operations may be required in order to perform one or more processes described herein, while other operations may be more general and/or specific to a particular programming language (e.g., C, C#, C++, Java, or other suitable programming languages, etc.). 
     Processor  305  is operatively coupled to a communication interface  315  such that server system  301  is capable of communicating with a remote device such as a user system or another server system  301 . For example, communication interface  315  may receive requests (e.g., requests to display merchant analytics and/or provide an interactive user interface) from a client system  114  via the Internet, as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
     Processor  305  may also be operatively coupled to a storage device  134 . Storage device  134  is any computer-operated hardware suitable for storing and/or retrieving data. In some embodiments, storage device  134  is integrated in server system  301 . For example, server system  301  may include one or more hard disk drives as storage device  134 . In other embodiments, storage device  134  is external to server system  301  and may be accessed by a plurality of server systems  301 . For example, storage device  134  may include multiple storage units such as hard disks or solid state disks in a redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) configuration. Storage device  134  may include a storage area network (SAN) and/or a network attached storage (NAS) system. 
     In some embodiments, processor  305  is operatively coupled to storage device  134  via a storage interface  320 . Storage interface  320  is any component capable of providing processor  305  with access to storage device  134 . Storage interface  320  may include, for example, an Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) adapter, a Serial ATA (SATA) adapter, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) adapter, a RAID controller, a SAN adapter, a network adapter, and/or any component providing processor  305  with access to storage device  134 . 
     Memory area  310  may include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) such as dynamic RAM (DRAM) or static RAM (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and non-volatile RAM (NVRAM). The above memory types are exemplary only, and are thus not limiting as to the types of memory usable for storage of a computer program. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates an example configuration of a client computing device  402 . Client computing device  402  may include, but is not limited to, client systems (“client computing devices”)  114 . Client computing device  402  includes a processor  404  for executing instructions. In some embodiments, executable instructions are stored in a memory area  406 . Processor  404  may include one or more processing units (e.g., in a multi-core configuration). Memory area  406  is any device allowing information such as executable instructions and/or other data to be stored and retrieved. Memory area  406  may include one or more computer-readable media. 
     Client computing device  402  also includes at least one media output component  408  for presenting information to a user  400  (e.g., a cardholder  22 ). Media output component  408  is any component capable of conveying information to user  400 . In some embodiments, media output component  408  includes an output adapter such as a video adapter and/or an audio adapter. An output adapter is operatively coupled to processor  404  and operatively couplable to an output device such as a display device (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, cathode ray tube (CRT), or “electronic ink” display) or an audio output device (e.g., a speaker or headphones). 
     In some embodiments, client computing device  402  includes an input device  410  for receiving input from user  400 . Input device  410  may include, for example, a keyboard, a pointing device, a mouse, a stylus, a touch sensitive panel (e.g., a touch pad or a touch screen), a camera, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a position detector, and/or an audio input device. A single component such as a touch screen may function as both an output device of media output component  408  and input device  410 . 
     Client computing device  402  may also include a communication interface  412 , which is communicatively couplable to a remote device such as server system  302  or a web server operated by a merchant. Communication interface  412  may include, for example, a wired or wireless network adapter or a wireless data transceiver for use with a mobile phone network (e.g., Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), 3G, 4G or Bluetooth) or other mobile data network (e.g., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WIMAX)). 
     Stored in memory area  406  are, for example, computer-readable instructions for providing a user interface to user  400  via media output component  408  and, optionally, receiving and processing input from input device  410 . 
     A user interface may include, among other possibilities, a web browser and client application. Web browsers enable users  400  to display and interact with media and other information typically embedded on a web page or a website from a web server associated with a merchant. A client application allows users  400  to interact with a server application associated with, for example, a merchant. The user interface, via one or both of a web browser and a client application, facilitates display of generated merchant analytics by merchant analytics computing device  112 . The user may interact with the user interface to view and explore the merchant analytics, for example, by selecting a sector of interest using input device  410  and viewing analytics associated with that sector. 
       FIG. 5  is a simplified data flow diagram for generating aggregated merchant analytics for a sector, and providing the analytics for display on a user interface using merchant analytics computing device  112 . As described herein, merchant analytics computing device  112  receives merchant definitions  510  (such as portfolio loan information, including information about pending loans) and user data  512  (such as lending or investment goals) from a user device  502  (such as a commercial lender, a commercial owner, an investor, or a marketing director). Merchant analytics computing device  112  defines a plurality of merchant records  552  based on merchant definitions  510  in the Setup Phase as identified above and herein. Merchant analytics computing device  112  further defines merchant management portfolio record  550  based on such merchant definitions  510 . 
     Merchant analytics computing device  112  also receives transaction data  540  associated with a plurality of merchants being analyzed. Transaction data  540  may be received from interchange network  28  (shown in  FIG. 1 ). Transaction data  540  is associated with a plurality of transaction occurring within a period of time (e.g., one month, six months, two years, etc.). Transaction data  540  is further associated with a plurality of merchants within a geographic region containing a plurality of sectors. Other information including census data or other public information  542  data may be received from external systems such as external server  504 . 
     Merchant analytics computing device  112  includes a plurality of modules  560 ,  570 , and  580  that facilitate generation and display of merchant analytics. Specifically, merchant analytics computing device  112  includes sector definition module  560  configured to define sectors and identify merchants located in each sector, as specified in the Sector Definition Phase. Sector definition module  560  may specifically identify one sector of a plurality of sectors within a geographic area in which each merchant associated with transaction data  540  (i.e., identified in transaction data  540 ) is located. Sector definition module  560  may update merchant records  552  to reflect the sector in which each associated merchant is located. 
     Merchant analytics computing device  112  also includes merchant analysis module  570  configured to generate analytics for each merchant record  552  (or for each sector in which a merchant is located) in merchant management portfolio record  550 , as specified in the Evaluation Phase. 
     In the example embodiment, merchant analysis module  570  is configured to generate aggregated merchant analytics for each sector based on transaction data  540  associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants located in that particular sector. The aggregated merchant analytics represent a ranking of each sector relative to all other sectors of the plurality of sectors. Merchant analysis module  570  is also configured to determine (e.g., using merchant definitions  510 ) a total pending loan amount for a subset of the plurality of sectors, each sector in the subset of sectors having at least a predetermined number of merchants having loans issued thereto. For instance, each sector may have at least five merchants having loans issued thereto. Merchant analysis module  570  is further configured to calculate a loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors based upon the aggregated merchant analytics and the total pending loan amount for each sector. 
     In certain embodiments, merchant analysis module  570  is configured to calculate a loan risk score based upon another calculated score. For example, merchant analysis module  570  may calculate a growth of each sector using received transaction data for a subset of the plurality of merchants located in each corresponding sector, wherein the growth represents a difference in total sales revenue in each sector from a beginning of the period of time to an end of the period of time, determine a relative ranking for each sector by comparing the growth of each sector of the plurality of sectors, and generate a growth score for each sector based on the relative ranking. In some such examples, calculating the loan risk score for each sector may include multiplying the total pending loan amount for a sector by a normalization of the growth score for the sector and dividing by an average pending loan amount for the subset of sectors. Merchant analysis module  570  may perform similar steps for calculating a loan risk score based upon stability, size, traffic, ticket size, and/or composite score(s). 
     In some embodiments, merchant analysis module  570  also identifies, for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, one merchant industry with which the merchant is associated. Merchant analysis module  570  generates aggregated industry analytics for each merchant industry based on the transaction data associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants associated with the merchant industry within each sector (e.g., all restaurant merchants within a sector). Broadly, the aggregated industry analytics represent a ranking of each industry within the sector relative to each industry within one or more other sectors. Merchant analysis module  570  also further calculates the loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors based upon the aggregated industry analytics. Such an “industry loan risk score” within each sector (or for a plurality of sectors) may provide additional insight for the user. For instance, although an “overall” loan risk score for a sector may indicate a relatively high risk for providing a loan, an industry loan risk score for a manufacturing industry or a service industry may indicate relatively lower risk. 
     In some embodiments, merchant analysis module  570  also determines a loan risk score trend for at least one sector based upon calculated loan risk scores for the at least one sector for two or more periods of time. The loan risk score trend may be displayed on the user interface of user computing device  502 , for instance, graphically displayed in association with the merchant loan portfolio (e.g., as color-coding and/or display with respect to a map). 
     Merchant analytics computing device  112  also includes optimization module  580  configured to perform optimization tasks for merchant management portfolio record  550  as specified in Optimization Phase. 
     Merchant analytics computing device  112  is also configured to provide outputs  590  as described herein. Specifically, outputs  590  may include merchant analytics for each merchant for which there is an associated merchant record  552 , as well as aggregated merchant analytics for each associated sector. Outputs  590  may also include an optimized portfolio record  550 , which may be sorted to identify and emphasize merchants that align with investment goals. Outputs  590  may also include any and all formatted output for display on a user interface of a user computing device  502  (e.g., client system  114 , as shown in  FIG. 2 ). Specifically, merchant analytics computing device  112  provides outputs  590  to facilitate displaying, on a user interface of user computing device  502 , the loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors, wherein the loan risk score is graphically displayed in association with a merchant loan portfolio. 
       FIGS. 6-15  are example screenshots of a user interface (e.g., user interface  118 , shown in  FIG. 2 ) of a user computing device (e.g., client system  114 , also shown in  FIG. 2 ). The example screenshots include data generated by merchant analytics computing device  112  (shown in  FIG. 2 ) such as merchant analytics, as described herein. Merchant analytics computing device  112  communicates the merchant analytics to the user device for display on interactive user interface  118 . 
     More specifically,  FIG. 6  depicts a U.S.-level screenshot  600  showing a “zoomed out” view  602  of the United States of America. In view  602 , the sectors are defined and displayed at a state-wide level. The screenshot  600  also includes several tools that enable a user to navigate the user interface and to examine the data generated and transmitted by merchant analytics computing device  112 . For example, the screenshot  600  depicts a location search bar  608 , which enables the user to search for a geographic region of interest. The screenshot  600  also includes a view navigation module  610 . The view navigation module  610  includes a “view type” selectable icon  612 , which enables the user to toggle between a “street map” view (as shown in view  602 ) and a “satellite” view (as shown in  FIG. 15 ). The view navigation module  610  also includes “zoom out”  614  and “zoom in”  616  selectable icons. The view navigation module  610  further includes a merchant number indicator  618 , which indicates the number of merchants encompassed by the current view (3,446,677 in view  602 ). 
     The screenshot  600  further includes a metric information module  620 . The metric information module  620  allows the user to select between available merchant analytics metrics (e.g., Composite, Growth, Stability, Size, Traffic, and Ticket Size scores) using a drop-down menu  622 . In the example embodiment, the metric information module  620  further includes a score scale  626 , which provides an explanation to the user of the color-coding of the sectors. The sectors displayed in view  602  are shown “painted” with colors and/or shades corresponding to the score scale  626 , which visually indicates the relative score (for the selected metric  624 ) for each sector. When a user chooses a different metric using drop-down menu  622 , the user interface will “re-paint” (i.e., re-color or re-shade) the displayed sectors (and, in some cases, the score scale  626 ) to reflect a range of numerical scores according to the selected metric  624 . In the example embodiment, a darker color indicates a higher score. In view  602 , the selected metric  624  is “Size.” Accordingly, the merchant analytics provided on the user interface are size scores for selected sectors. The screenshot  600  also depicts a time-selection slider  630 , which will be described further herein with respect to  FIG. 14 . 
     The screenshot  600  also depicts a “smart chart”  640 , which provides the user with a score  642  for a selected sector  604 , as well as additional information. In view  602 , North Carolina is the selected sector  604 , as indicated by the sector indicator  644  of the smart chart  640 . The smart chart  640  includes, in view  602 , a size score  642  for North Carolina ( 500  in view  602 ). As view  602  depicts sectors at a state level, the size score  642  for North Carolina is relative to all other states. The smart chart  640  also includes a trend graph  646 , which is a visual representation of the size score trends for the selected sector  604  (North Carolina) over time. The smart chart  640  also includes its own merchant number indicator  648 , which indicates the number of merchants included in the selected sector  604  (North Carolina). State and County ranking indicators  650 ,  652  in the current view  602 , are blank, as they are not applicable to a state-level sector. State and County ranking indicators  650 ,  652  will be described further herein with respect to  FIGS. 7 and 8 . The smart chart  640  also includes an industry chart  654  (a pie chart in the illustrated embodiment), which indicates the percentage of merchant locations in the selected sector  604  associated with various industries. 
       FIG. 7  depicts a screenshot  700  showing a state-level view  702  (zoomed-in relative to view  602 , shown in  FIG. 6 ). View  702  depicts the state of North Carolina divided into county-level sectors. Notably, the merchant number indicator  718  in the view navigation module  710  has changed (relative to the merchant number indicator  618  in  FIG. 6 ), depicting 93,490 merchants encompassed by view  702 . The score scale  726  has also changed (relative to score scale  626  in  FIG. 6 ), such that the colors or shades indicate different ranges of scores. 
     In view  702 , Mecklenburg County is the selected sector  704 . Accordingly, the information in the smart chart  740  has changed to reflect the data representing Mecklenburg County. For example, the size score  742  is 552, the merchant number indicator  748  reflects a much smaller number of merchants encompassed, and the industry chart  754  has also been updated. The state ranking indicator  750  is now populated. The state ranking indicator  750  denotes the percentile of the selected sector  704  relative to all other sectors in the state. In view  702 , the state ranking indicator  750  reads 96%, denoting that Mecklenburg County is in the 96 th  percentile of counties in the state, according to the selected metric  724  of “size.” 
       FIG. 8  depicts a screenshot  800  showing a view  802  that is zoomed-in relative to view  602  and view  702  (shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 , respectively). View  802  depicts a portion of Mecklenburg County at block-group-level sectors. In view  802 , “Block Group 1” is the selected sector  804 . Block Group 1 includes, in this example, Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT). Once again, the merchant number indicator  818  has decreased, and the information in the smart chart  840  has changed. The size score  842  (now 767), trend graph  846 , merchant number indicator  848 , state ranking indicator  850 , and industry chart  854  reflect data representative of Block Group 1. Moreover, the county ranking indicator  852  is now populated. The county ranking indicator  852  denotes the percentile of the selected sector  804  relative to all sectors in the county. In view  802 , the county ranking indicator  852  reads 99%, denoting that Block Group 1 is in the 99 th  percentile of block-group-level sectors in the county, according to the selected metric  824  of “size.” 
       FIG. 9  depicts a screenshot  900  showing a view  902  that is the same in geographical scale as view  802  (shown in  FIG. 8 ). However, view  902  has substantially changed in terms of the shading of the sectors. The metric information module  920  shows the selected metric  924  is the merchant analytic of “Growth,” thus the sectors have been “re-painted” or “re-shaded” to reflect the growth scores of the visible sectors. The smart chart  940  for selected sector  904  Block Group 1 shows that the growth score  942  for Block Group 1 is 456, and the state and county ranking indicators  950 ,  952  have substantially decreased (relative to state and county ranking indicators  850 ,  852  shown in  FIG. 8 ). As Block Group 1 includes CLT, it follows that the growth score  942  would be lower than the size score  842  (shown in  FIG. 8 ). Though airports may have very high sales revenue (size) due to the sheer number of people passing through every day, their growth may be low, as the number of people travelling (and therefore the amount of money spent at airports) may not substantially increase from year to year. 
       FIG. 10  depicts a screenshot  1000  showing a view  1002  that is the same in geographical scale as views  802  and  902  (shown in  FIGS. 8 and 9 , respectively). However, again, view  1002  shows different shading of sectors than in  FIG. 8 or 9 . View  1002  reflects the selected metric  1024 , the merchant analytic of “Stability.” The selected sector  1004  Block Group 1 has a high stability score  1042  of  719 , and also ranks highly relative to sectors in the state and county. Again, considering that Block Group 1 includes CLT, it stands to reason that sales revenue may be relatively stable, as the amount of people travelling (and therefore the amount of money spent at airports) may not substantially fluctuate from year to year. 
       FIG. 11  depicts a screenshot  1100  showing a view  1102  that is the same in geographical scale as views  802 ,  902 , and  1002  (shown in  FIGS. 8, 9, and 10 , respectively). View  1102  reflects the selected metric  1124 , the merchant analytic of “Traffic.” The selected sector  1104  Block Group 1 has a very high traffic score  1142  of  801 , and again ranks very highly relative to sectors in the state and county. Considering the number of people travelling through airports (such as CLT) each day, and hence each years, it follows that the transaction traffic may be very high, compared to other sectors in the same geographic region. 
       FIG. 12  depicts a screenshot  1200  showing a view  1202  that is the same in geographical scale as views  802 ,  902 ,  1002 , and  1102  (shown in  FIGS. 8, 9, 10, and 11 , respectively). View  1202  reflects the selected metric  1224 , the merchant analytic of “Ticket Size.” Selected sector  1204  Block Group 1 has a very low ticket size score  1242  of  340  and ranks low relative to sectors in the state and county, despite Block Group 1 having a high numerical size score  842  (shown in  FIG. 8 ) and a high numerical traffic score  1142  (shown in  FIG. 11 ). Many transactions initiated in an airport (such as CLT) may be purchases of food and beverages by travelers, which may have relatively small ticket sizes (as opposed to, say, a jewelry store). 
       FIG. 13  depicts a screenshot  1300  showing a view  1302  that is the same in geographic scale as views  802 ,  902 ,  1002 ,  1102 , and  1202  (shown in  FIGS. 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 , respectively). View  1302  reflects the selected metric  1324 , the merchant analytic of “Composite” (e.g., aggregated score). As described above, the composite score for a sector may be an average, weighted average, or some other aggregation of the other five scores for that sector. The selected sector  1304  Block Group 1 has a fairly high composite score  1342  of  669 , which may be expected, considering three of the five previous scores were high for Block Group 1. 
       FIG. 14  depicts a screenshot  1400  showing a view  1402  that is same in geographical scale as views  802 ,  902 ,  1002 ,  1102 ,  1202 , and  1302  (shown in  FIGS. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 , respectively). Moreover, the selected metric  1424 , as in view  1302 , is “Composite.” However, it should be noted that the time-selection slider  1430  has been moved from February 2015 (as was selected in all previous views) to December 2012. The time-selection slider  1430  acts as a virtual “time machine,” allowing a user to see how the score for a sector has developed (i.e., increased or decreased) over time by dragging the slider  1430  from one point to another. In the example embodiment, the time-selection slider  1430  includes an interval indicator  1432 , which denotes the number of months&#39; worth of transaction data used to determine the scores shown in that particular view. The interval indicator  1432  in view  1402  reads “12,” indicating that 12-months&#39; worth of data is included in the determined scores shown. In view  1402 , one can see that the merchant number indicators of merchants  1418 ,  1448  have decreased, both in the view navigation module  1410  and in the smart chart  1440  for the selected sector  1404  (Block Group 1). This immediately informs the user that, from December 2012 to February 2015, the geographic area has experienced some manner of growth, as more merchant locations were present in February 2015 than December 2012, in the same geographic view. The composite score  1442  for Block Group 1 has also changed, indicating that the composite score  1342 ,  1442  for Block Group 1 decreased from December 2012 to February 2015. This may indicate that the selected sector  1404  is not performing as well relative to itself in December 2012, or may indicate that other sectors are performing better, relative to the selected sector  1404  (or some combination of the two scenarios). In some embodiments, some sectors may “disappear,” the further back in time the user goes on the user interface by moving slider  1430  “back in time,” as at that selected month (or other point in time), there was not twelve-months&#39; worth (or any other minimum amount) of data yet for enough merchant locations to define or establish a sector at that geographic location. 
       FIG. 15  depicts a screenshot  1500  showing a view  1502  that is zoomed-in relative to views  802 - 1402  (shown in  FIGS. 8-14 ). In view  1502 , the user has toggled a “satellite” view by selecting “view type” icon  1512 . Accordingly, the sectors are displayed overlaid upon satellite imagery of the geographic region. In some cases, such a view may help a user understand and visualize the boundaries of and between defined sectors. In addition, the defined sectors are at the block level. The selected sector  1504  is denoted as “Block  1001 ,” which was included in the “Block Group 1” (block-group level) sector shown in  FIGS. 8-14 . Accordingly, the number of merchants included in the selected sector  1504  is reduced (relative to the number of merchants in, for example, selected sector  1404  shown in  FIG. 14 ), as shown in the merchant number indicator  1548 , and the various analytics (e.g., Composite score  1542 , in this example) are determined using data for the merchants in just that block sector. 
       FIG. 16  is a simplified diagram of an example method  1600  for generating merchant analytics for a sector and providing the analytics on a user interface using merchant analytics computing device  112  (shown in  FIG. 2 ). Specifically, merchant analytics computing device  112  defines  1602  a plurality of sectors of a geographic region. Additionally, merchant analytics computing device  112  receives  1604  transaction data (e.g., transaction data  540 , shown in  FIG. 5 ) for a period of time. The transaction data may be associated with a plurality of merchants, and the plurality of merchants may be located in the geographic region. Additionally, merchant analytics computing device  112  identifies  1606 , for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, one sector of the plurality of sectors in which the merchant is located. Additionally, merchant analytics computing device  112  generates  1608  aggregated merchant analytics (e.g., as output  590 , also shown in  FIG. 5 ) for each sector based on the transaction data associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants located in the sector. The aggregated merchant analytics may represent a ranking of each sector relative to all other sectors of the plurality of sectors. Additionally, merchant analytics computing device  112  displays  1610  on a user interface (e.g., user interface  118 , shown in  FIG. 2 ) the aggregated merchant analytics. The aggregated merchant analytics may be graphically represented on a map of the defined sectors. “Display,” as used in reference to merchant analytics computing device  112 , may refer to any method in which merchant analytics computing device  112  facilitates or causes display of the merchant analytics on the user computing device. 
       FIG. 17  is a diagram of components of one or more example computing devices that may be used in the environment shown in  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 17  further shows a configuration of databases including at least database  120  (shown in  FIG. 2 ). Database  120  may store information such as, for example, transaction data  1702 , public information  1704 , and user data  1706 . Database  120  is coupled to several separate components within merchant analytics computing device  112 , which perform specific tasks. 
     Merchant analytics computing device  112  includes a defining component  1710  for defining a plurality of sectors of a geographic region. Additionally, merchant analytics computing device  112  includes a receiving component  1720  for receiving transaction data for financial transactions occurring within a period of time. The transaction data is associated with a plurality of merchants, and the plurality of merchants are located in the geographic region. Additionally, merchant analytics computing device  112  includes an identifying component  1730  for, for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, one sector of the plurality of sectors in which the merchant is located. Additionally, merchant analytics computing device  112  includes a generating component  1740  for generating aggregated merchant analytics for each sector based on the transaction data associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants located in the sector. The aggregated merchant analytics represent a ranking of each sector relative to all other sectors of the plurality of sectors. Additionally, merchant analytics computing device  112  includes a displaying component  1750  (alternatively referred to as a “display component”) for displaying on a user interface the aggregated merchant analytics. The aggregated merchant analytics are graphically represented on a map of the defined sectors. 
     In some implementations, generating component  1740  (or any other component of merchant analytics computing device  112 ) may be further configured to calculate a growth of each sector using received transaction data for a subset of the plurality of merchants located in each corresponding sector. The growth represents a difference in total sales revenue in each sector from a beginning of the period of time to an end of the period of time. Generating component  1740  may be further configured to determine a relative ranking for each sector by comparing the growth of each sector of the plurality of sectors and generate the growth score for each sector based on the relative ranking. 
     In some implementations, generating component  1740  (or any other component of merchant analytics computing device  112 ) may be further configured to calculate a stability of each sector using received transaction data for a subset of the plurality of merchants located in each corresponding sector. The stability represents maintenance of total sales revenue within a range of values around an average value of the total sales revenue in each sector during the period of time. Generating component  1740  may be further configured to determine a relative ranking for each sector by comparing the stability of each sector of the plurality of sectors, and generate the stability score for each sector based on the relative ranking. 
     In some implementations, generating component  1740  (or any other component of merchant analytics computing device  112 ) may be further configured to calculate a size of each sector using received transaction data for a subset of the plurality of merchants located in each corresponding sector. The size represents a total sales revenue in each sector during the period of time. Generating component  1740  may be further configured to determine a relative ranking for each sector by comparing the size of each sector of the plurality of sectors, and generate the size score for each sector based on the relative ranking. 
     In some implementations, generating component  1740  (or any other component of merchant analytics computing device  112 ) may be further configured to calculate a traffic of each sector using received transaction data for a subset of the plurality of merchants located in each corresponding sector. The traffic represents a number of transactions initiated in each sector during the period of time. Generating component  1740  may be further configured to determine a relative ranking for each sector by comparing the traffic of each sector of the plurality of sectors, and generate the traffic score for each sector based on the relative ranking. 
     In some implementations, generating component  1740  (or any other component of merchant analytics computing device  112 ) may be further configured to calculate an average ticket size for each sector using received transaction data for a subset of the plurality of merchants located in each corresponding sector. The average ticket size represents an average transaction amount in each sector during the period of time, and the average ticket size may be calculated by dividing a total sales revenue for a sector by a number of transactions initiated in the sector during the period of time. Generating component  1740  may be further configured to determine a relative ranking for each sector by comparing the average ticket size of each sector of the plurality of sectors, and generate the ticket size score for each sector based on the relative ranking. 
     In some implementations, generating component  1740  (or any other component of merchant analytics computing device  112 ) may be further configured to generate a growth score for each sector. The growth score represents a first relative ranking of the plurality of sectors based on a difference in total sales revenue in each sector from a beginning of the period of time to an end of the period of time. Generating component  1740  may also be configured to generate a stability score for each sector. The stability score represents a second relative ranking of the plurality of sectors based on a maintenance of a total sales revenue within a range of values around an average value of the total sales revenue in each sector during the period of time. Generating component  1740  may be further configured to generate a size score for each sector. The size score represents a third relative ranking of the plurality of sectors based on the total sales revenue in each sector during the period of time. Generating component  1740  may also be configured to generate a traffic score each sector. The traffic score represents a fourth relative ranking of the plurality of sectors based on a number of transactions initiated in each sector during the period of time. Generating component  1740  may further be configured to generate a ticket size score for each sector. The ticket size score represents a fifth relative ranking of the plurality of sectors based on an average transaction amount in each sector during the period of time. Generating component  1740  may still further be configured to generate the composite score for each sector. The composite score represents a sixth relative ranking of the plurality of sectors based on an aggregation of the growth score, the stability score, the size score, the traffic score, and the ticket size score of each sector. 
     In some implementations, generating component  1740  may be configured to generate a merchant record for each merchant of the plurality of merchants. Receiving component  1720  may be configured to receive an investment goal associated with the plurality of merchants. Identifying component  1730  may be configured to sort the plurality of merchant records according to the investment goal and the merchant analytics for each sector in which each merchant of the plurality of merchants is located. Causing or displaying component  1750  may be configured to present the sorted merchant records in an optimized merchant management portfolio. 
       FIG. 19  is a simplified diagram of an example method  1900  for generating merchant analytics for a sector to determine a loan risk for the sector, and providing the analytics on a user interface using merchant analytics computing device  112  (shown in  FIG. 2 ). Specifically, merchant analytics computing device  112  defines  1902  a plurality of sectors of a geographic region. Additionally, merchant analytics computing device  112  receives  1904  transaction data (e.g., transaction data  540 , shown in  FIG. 5 ) for a period of time. The transaction data may be associated with a plurality of merchants, and the plurality of merchants may be located in the geographic region. 
     Additionally, merchant analytics computing device  112  identifies  1906 , for each merchant of the plurality of merchants, one sector of the plurality of sectors in which the merchant is located. Additionally, merchant analytics computing device  112  generates  1908  aggregated merchant analytics (e.g., as output  590 , also shown in  FIG. 5 ) for each sector based on the transaction data associated with all merchants of the plurality of merchants located in the sector. The aggregated merchant analytics may represent a ranking of each sector relative to all other sectors of the plurality of sectors. 
     Merchant analytics computing device  112  also determines  1910  a total pending loan amount for a subset of the plurality of sectors, each sector in the subset of sectors having at least a predetermined number of merchants having loans issued thereto. In some embodiments, the total pending loan amount is provided to merchant analytics computing device  112  by a user (e.g., a lender or a manager of a merchant loan portfolio). Merchant analytics computing device  112  calculates  1912  a loan risk score for each sector of the subset of sectors based upon the aggregated merchant analytics and the total pending loan amount for each sector. In addition, merchant analytics computing device  112  displays  1914  on a user interface (e.g., user interface  118 , shown in  FIG. 2 ) the aggregated merchant analytics. The aggregated merchant analytics may be graphically represented on a map of the defined sectors. “Display,” as used in reference to merchant analytics computing device  112 , may refer to any method in which merchant analytics computing device  112  facilitates or causes display of the merchant analytics on the user computing device. 
     As used herein, the term “non-transitory computer-readable media” is intended to be representative of any tangible computer-based device implemented in any method or technology for short-term and long-term storage of information, such as, computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules and sub-modules, or other data in any device. Therefore, the methods described herein may be encoded as executable instructions embodied in a tangible, non-transitory, computer readable medium, including, without limitation, a storage device and/or a memory device. Such instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform at least a portion of the methods described herein. Moreover, as used herein, the term “non-transitory computer-readable media” includes all tangible, computer-readable media, including, without limitation, non-transitory computer storage devices, including, without limitation, volatile and nonvolatile media, and removable and non-removable media such as a firmware, physical and virtual storage, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and any other digital source such as a network or the Internet, as well as yet to be developed digital means, with the sole exception being a transitory, propagating signal. 
     This written description uses examples to disclose the disclosure, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the embodiments, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the disclosure is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.