Thread: Target's invasive marketing strategies

This is just the begining. Wait and see demolition man type shit is on its way.

Originally Posted by Knee of Justice

I'm surprised how content a lot of you guys are with this...

It's not content per se. But more a matter of non plussed and or not surprised. There are more serious issues that fall before this in the list priorities.

Sent via highly charged bolt of electricity.

Originally Posted by Knee of Justice

I'm surprised how content a lot of you guys are with this...

I'm not content at all, but it's sorta old news for me. I got a chance glimpse into the belly of this beast quite some time ago, and I used to work with large data sets trying to tease information out of them. I have friends who worked in the check clearing and credit card industry (Dex is right, credit agencies and VISA know lots about you).

I don't use "shoppers club" cards at the grocery store. I don't sign up for "rewards" programs. I'm not a tin-foil-hat guy (though seriously, if I was, would I know it?). It's a power balance issue for me. People who use these schemes are giving away valuable things for free, and permanently lowering their future economic power.

Every economic transaction is, at least partly, a bargaining process. It shows up mostly when you buy things like a car or a house. For example, you don't go into a car dealership and say "ZOMG! I LOVE that color. I have to have this one today. Is this price on the car the price I should pay? Because that's ok with me!" The more they know, the less power you have in the bargaining.

The same is true for, well, everything. There are things in grocery stores that used to go on sale, and now they never do. The sort of data collected when everyone swipes a "shoppers club" card at the checkout will quickly show them what items have a very low price elasticity of demand. That is, if they go on sale, people don't really buy that much more. If the price goes up some, people don't really buy less (the particular items that's true for can vary by location).

That's just the beginning. Good cross-sectional data let's them know their customers generally, and they get that just by tracking inventory. It's the longitudinal data that's really powerful (that is, the data for each person over a long period of time), which is what those club cards give them. This is a divide-and-conquer strategy. In economic terms, it's called market discrimination - dividing a market into sub-sets and offering different terms to the several segments. In this case, they have divided their market as far as it can go.

I'm not out on the street corner ranting about evil corporations and the number of the beast - because I'm not That Guy. But I avoid having my data collected when I have the option. If anyone asks me, I encourage them to make a similar choice.

This problem exists on the web too. My .hosts file has been evolving for a very long time.

Cheers,


AetheLove

Originally Posted by DJ Mr. White

Walmart is completely trustworthy, has quality products including organic food, and treats its employees and customers with respect and love.

LOL im pretty sure your joking but has anyone ever asked themselves why walmart has 90 year olds on oxygen as greeters? I had no idea until about a month ago that they take life insurance policies out on them.

Originally Posted by CivilWars

It is not that we are content with it, it is that what are the alternatives? Unless you go off the grid, as in solar electric, water well, grow your own food, make your own clothes, etc then what are your alternative options? Shop at Wal-Mart instead? I am sure they don't do it too, just Target, right?

You don't have to opt out of normal human society (though I guess that's an option). You can not use the club cards that collect the data. One place where I lived, the local store would swipe the managers card for you if you asked. You can use cash more frequently. I still have credit and debit cards, but I use cash pretty frequently. I feel better about it too - I'm not paying a 3% tax to VISA for the privilege of having my personal data collected and stored.

There's other stuff. You do what you can. Me and my data-nerd friends used to amuse ourselves by poisoning the data collected by local stores. I'm sure it made no long-run difference, but it was worth a few laughs.

Cheers,


AetheLove