Earnest Analytics

Earnest Analytics is a consumer and healthcare alternative data provider founded in 2012, offering structured datasets derived from credit and debit card transactions, consumer goods data, web pricing, demographics, homebuilder, auto reseller, location, and healthcare data including medical procedures and prescription drugs.^[1][2]

The company serves institutional investors, corporations, consultants, and government agencies, claiming more than 180 million included accounts, twelve representative datasets, a minimum transaction lag of one day, and 90 percent revenue surprise accuracy.^[1] In April 2025, Earnest Analytics was acquired by Consumer Edge, the consumer spending intelligence firm founded in 2009, with terms not disclosed.^[2]

What It Does

Earnest Analytics measures the consumer and healthcare economies with near-real-time transaction data. Investors use it to quantify customer trends, revenue growth, and market share changes; companies use it for customer tracking, competitive benchmarking, and investor relations; consultants use it for market analysis and private equity due diligence.^[1]

The company's stated methodology runs through four stages: sourcing from partners meeting high compliance standards, normalization of raw data through its proprietary machine learning approach called Earnest AI, classification and validation by industry-expert analysts who compare data against reported results, and delivery through Dash, its curated analytics platform.^[1]

Data And Methodology

The platform advertises a rotating list of data capabilities including credit card data, debit card data, consumer goods data, web pricing data, demographic data, homebuilder data, auto reseller data, medical procedure data, prescription drug data, and location data.^[1]

Row-level access allows clients to build custom cohorts of consumers by brand preference, income, and home location, a feature cited in academic work on customer retention by researchers affiliated with Emory University and Theta.^[1]

Products

Core products include the Dash analytics platform with free trial access, twelve representative datasets, and an insights publication covering consumer categories such as retail, food and dining, and macro spending, as well as healthcare.^[1]

The company regularly publishes spending analyses on topics including restaurant demand, clothing and accessories, egg prices, and the impact of discount e-commerce entrants, and its data is cited in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal.^[1]

Buyers And Use Cases

The company's website displays client logos including Campbell's, CorePower Yoga, Instacart, Guitar Center, Affirm, and Anthropologie, alongside testimonials from Rabobank, Sizzling Platter, SPARC Group, Tecovas, and Hungryroot, which cited Earnest data in reporting customer retention and first-year spend figures.^[1]

Founder and CEO Kevin Carson has led the company since its founding; the firm is headquartered at 43 West 24th Street in New York.^[1]

History

Earnest Analytics was founded in 2012. On April 28, 2025, Consumer Edge announced it had completed its acquisition of Earnest Analytics, described as a pioneer in transaction and healthcare data, to strengthen Consumer Edge's near-real-time global consumer spending data offering. Earnest founder Kevin Carson joined the combined effort, and terms of the transaction were not disclosed.^[2]

Within the card-transactions landscape, Earnest competes with providers such as Bloomberg Second Measure, Affinity Solutions, and Facteus.

More datasets from Earnest Analytics

Earnest Analytics lists 4 datasets on this encyclopedia. The most representative listings:

More about Card & Transactions

Card & Transactions is one of the signal families covered by The Alternative Data Encyclopedia, with 15 providers and 141 datasets listed in the register. For how the signal is generated, its caveats and the compliance considerations, and the full provider list, see the category article.