Tesco-owned data group Dunnhumby has taken a 50% stake in Sandtable - a data science company that uses computational models to predict people’s behaviour.

Dunnhumby said the joint venture - which will continue to operate as Sandtable - would benefit from access to its data. The Tesco Clubcard operator said Sandtable’s ‘agent-based modelling’ could provide insight, for example, into the market impact of changing consumer attitudes to sugar.

“They could use it to understand consumer choices and how customer trends are developing as the perception of healthiness and attitudes toward levels of sugar in soft drinks changes,” said Dylan Slaney, head of brand, UK & Tesco markets, at Dunnhumby. Sandtable uses multiple sources of data to model consumer behaviour and predict what consumers will want and how best to serve their needs.

“The new joint venture with Sandtable will give our partners unprecedented confidence that their choices and actions are the ones that will resonate the best - improving the experience for customers and the results for marketers,” said Dunnhumby CEO Simon Hay.

Sandtable founder Andrew Skates added: “Together we can allow organisations to make the better decisions about how to meet their customers’ future needs in a complex and changing world.”

No personal data will be used or shared externally, according to Dunnhumby.

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