New Wharton initiative to focus on consumer analytics

The Wharton School initiative will allow companies to accurately target customers based on past consumption patterns.

The Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative is 'increasingly undergraduate focused'

by Rachel Finkel, January 17, 2011

Last week, the Wharton School began a groundbreaking initiative that will allow companies to accurately target customers based on past consumption patterns.

The Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative - launched as an expansion of the Wharton Interactive Media Initiative - will also be integrated into the undergraduate Wharton curriculum.

The WCAI helps companies analyze data about customer preferences in order to maximize profits. What differentiates this initiative from "other customer-oriented research centers" is that it is "data-driven," WCAI co-Director Peter Fader said.

Since 2006, WIMI has had a similar purpose, but the recent expansion of WIMI to WCAI will make the initiative "increasingly undergraduate focused" and "even more attractive to applicants," co-director Eric Bradlow said.

"People in admissions are flagging applications that mention [customer analytics]," he added.

According to Fader, Wharton undergraduates who like "crunching numbers" will have an opportunity to follow a "curriculum that's more interesting and just as rigorous" than more traditional majors, such as finance.

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