METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ANONYMOUS ESTIMATION OF TRANSACTION BASKET DETAILS

A method for identifying spending trends at multi-category merchants includes storing historical transaction data for a plurality of transaction accounts, each transaction account having account attributes associated therewith. Spending amounts are received for a plurality of spend categories for a consumer group having set account attributes. Stored transactional data is identified for those transaction accounts having the same account attributes as the consumer group; then the spending amounts are extrapolated onto the stored transactional data to estimate categorical spending by the related transaction accounts across each of the spend categories, based on the overall transaction amounts and extrapolation of the spending amounts, over a plurality of periods of time. Spending trends are then identified based on changes in the estimated categorical spending over time, enabling trends to be identified on a department-level basis for multi-category merchants where such spending data is unavailable.