Costa has signed an agreement with big data analytics firm Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) to license APT's Test & Learn Management System.
Costa will use the system to test strategic initiatives across its network of over 1,600 coffee shops in the UK.
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APT's founder and chief, Jim Manzi, told Computing in January that predictive analytics helps firms to get "about three per cent better at guessing" what a consumer would like to buy, and that this is worth "a lot of money".
Matthew Price, finance director at Costa, said that it was "critical" for the coffee chain to have the best tools in place to quickly generate insights that create value for the business.
"APT is instrumental in improving the analytic rigor and speed with which we make decisions on store investment and the right range of products," he said.
"The ability to automate complex analytic processes has not only provided more accurate decisions, but it has significantly decreased the time required to understand the impact of each new idea," he added.
APT's vice president UK, Rupert Naylor, told Computing that the technology will help Costa to answer three critical questions about any proposed initiative.
"First, will this initiative work if rolled out across the chain (for example, is it profitable to stay open later?). Second, in which locations will this initiative work best (for example, urban but not rural locations)? And finally, how can we tailor and target a rollout for maximum profitability (for example, opening one hour later in only high-volume urban restaurants)," he said.
He said that restaurants that work with APT "typically generate tens of millions of pounds in incremental profit by reducing the cost of testing, increasing the speed of test analysis, improving the accuracy of measured results and targeting programme rollouts to the locations predicted to respond profitably".
In June, APT received a $100m minority investment from the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs in a deal that APT described as the largest investment in predictive analytics to date.
APT's other customers include Walmart, Hilton, McDonald's, Kraft Foods and clothes firm Abercrombie & Fitch.
