2012年3月10日 星期六

誰正在注意你的購物習慣?Do You Think Retail Stores Are Watching What You Buy?

當我們買玩具送禮,我們通常去玩具店買。我們要買食物時,會去固定幾家食物店。這些購物習慣不常會改變太多。

但是人生中發生了大事,譬如:結婚、生小孩、搬家或失業等。原先的購物習慣會臨時被擱置或改變,發展起另外新的購物習慣。本來這個顧客從不買嬰兒用品的,突然買起一堆婦幼商品,這可以合理推論出顧客本身或是週圍的親朋好友的需求改變所引起。

有些商店會經由顧客購買的物品,收集一陣子的資料拿來分析及長期觀察這些變動後得出結果。例如:某個客人突然開始大小各類的物品都一起買,商店經由"預期分析",已可以發現不少客人的內情及隱私。

精明的商店可以藉由這些收集到的情報,投其所好發些特別的促銷廣告,既滿足了客戶的需求,也滿了店家的荷包,這樣店家和顧客都是雙贏的局面。不過,請讀者看以下這篇紐約時報上的文章。你可能會大吃一驚:商店蒐集我們客戶的資料,其多其廣遠遠超過我們想像。

我覺得我應該慢慢改成用現金購物,這樣可以避免一些個人隱私被商店發現。好笑的是:我有些朋友已根深蒂固,買什麼都掏出信用卡,反而在只能用現金交易的小店掏鈔票找銅板時一陣慌亂。其中還有位朋友以前是在銀行做了多年事的耶!

When we buy a toy as a gift, we usually go to a toy store.  When we buy food, we go to a grocery store.  These patterns seldom change.  But when there is a big event in life coming up, the old habits sometimes are replaced by new habits.  And some stores will observe the changes.  When they suddenly see a customer buying lots of things he/she hadn't bought before, with the help of "predictive analysis," a lot of new insights can be identified.  The stores can then send special promotions to that customer.  But after you read this article from New York Times, you could be surprised that the stores keep a lot more information about us the shoppers than anyone can imagine.

How Companies Learn Your Secrets

http://nyti.ms/wJwW7d%20%20

I think I might use cash to make purchases more often.  That will keep the stores off my secrets.  An irony here: some among my friends had become so used to pull out a card at check-out, they are very clumsy dealing with bills and coins.  This even includes a friend who used to work in a bank for many years.

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