Administrator murphzlaw1 Posted February 18, 2012 Administrator Report Share Posted February 18, 2012 http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/818/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/[Pole] ran test after test, analyzing the data, and before long some useful patterns emerged. Lotions, for example. Lots of people buy lotion, but one of Pole’s colleagues noticed that women on the baby registry were buying larger quantities of unscented lotion around the beginning of their second trimester. Another analyst noted that sometime in the first 20 weeks, pregnant women loaded up on supplements like calcium, magnesium and zinc. Many shoppers purchase soap and cotton balls, but when someone suddenly starts buying lots of scent-free soap and extra-big bags of cotton balls, in addition to hand sanitizers and washcloths, it signals they could be getting close to their delivery date.Or have a rather nasty infection…As Pole’s computers crawled through the data, he was able to identify about 25 products that, when analyzed together, allowed him to assign each shopper a “pregnancy prediction” score. More important, he could also estimate her due date to within a small window, so Target could send coupons timed to very specific stages of her pregnancy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorian Gray Posted February 18, 2012 Report Share Posted February 18, 2012 Big brother man! Why do you think all those stores pay to 1 to 3% of the total bill to accept credit cards.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atwater Vitki Posted February 18, 2012 Report Share Posted February 18, 2012 These "inventory tracking" and consumer buying habits were tested in the military when I was in '73-77. I ran the gee-dunk store for two years while striking for corpsman that had the first bar code reader attached to it. "For better inventory control" I was told. Several of the other Shipservicemen and I got talking along the lines of "what's next" for this and sure enough a couple years later when I worked a temp job at Western Digital these were the very things the marketing and product development clowns were thinking up back in the late 70's.It's so implemented into our system of buying retail now that people are absolutely blank brained about it. Targette, Wally World, etc etc...all major retailers control inventory direct to purchaser along every step of the way from manufacturing to consumer now. All thanks to the "convenience" of on-line banking and ATM cards. Kay and I frequently get "Value Pack" coupons in the mail that I'd say 80% of the coupons are for something we've purchased in the past few months. At places like our grocers, look on the back of your receipt...Save Mart for example prints out "related item" coupons on every one...buy cat food, get a coupon for cat sand, buy hamburger buns, get a "double Tuesday" coupon for ground beef and so forth.In many ways I wish I would have stayed in wholesale/retail after the Navy, it is indeed an interesting and quickly changing field. But then, the journey from Navy to machine shop to electronics R&D to civil service to my own studios was a journey of a lifetime and wouldn't change it for the world.Blessings of Peace, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qryos Posted February 20, 2012 Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 ~ It makes sense & cents ... Millions of shoppers at these big chains, it sucks when they don't have what you want, right?Everything All the time can't be available just in case Someone wants it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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