Sandalwood

Sandalwood (Sandalwood Advisors) is an alternative data provider focused on Asian consumer spending, offering datasets on Chinese credit and debit card transactions, e-commerce sales from platforms such as JD, Tmall, and Pinduoduo, department store traffic, auto sales, and auto insurance registrations.^[1][2]

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Hong Kong, the firm aggregates transaction data to stock, sector, and country level for institutional investors, and describes itself as one of the largest Asian alternative data platforms.^[1][3]

What It Does

Sandalwood converts granular Chinese consumer transaction records into investable indicators: anonymized and aggregated credit card spending useful for luxury goods and automotive demand tracking, e-commerce sales by brand on major marketplaces, and online-plus-offline department store data.^[1][2]

The firm publishes recurring research such as its China Online Spending report and analyses based on China auto insurance registration data, which it has used to estimate monthly delivery volumes for automakers like BYD ahead of official disclosures.^[1]

Data and Methodology

Card transactions are fully anonymized and aggregated before delivery. All sales metrics are aggregated to stock, sector, or country level, with enhanced metrics such as mobile payment analytics layered on top of e-commerce trends identifiable via JD, PDD, and Tmall.^[1][4]

Its Chinese-language platform describes data sources covering more than 100,000 brands across over 400 industries worldwide.^[2]

Products

Named databases include China Card Transactions, China Department Store, and China Supermarket, distributed to investors through the Exabel platform, alongside auto sales and auto insurance datasets and company-level insight reports.^[4]

Buyers and Use Cases

The primary audience is institutional investors tracking Chinese consumer companies, using card, e-commerce, and insurance registration data to validate revenue trends between earnings reports. Industry commentary has described the firm as having carved out a niche in Asian consumer spending data.^[3]

History

Sandalwood Advisors was founded in 2015. Industry directory listings have recorded around 20 employees, while research commentary two years after founding described over 25 staff supporting eight databases from a Hong Kong base, serving the greater China region including Korea.^[2][3]

More datasets from Sandalwood

Sandalwood lists 1 datasets on this encyclopedia. The most representative listings:

More about Credit & Lending

Credit & Lending is one of the signal families covered by The Alternative Data Encyclopedia, with 13 providers and 63 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.