Great questions.
Yes, we match the raw string to a merchant with extra static fields (URL, icon, logo, Merchant Category Code).
In our mind, merchant enrichment unlocks many possibilities. The most obvious one is to have a nice and modern bank transaction feed. But our customers also use us to lock company cards to particular merchants, group by merchants to see where people are spending the most, and more. Would love to hear if you had other "step 2"s in mind!