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Demeter

(85,373 posts)
47. How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did
Fri Feb 17, 2012, 09:41 AM
Feb 2012
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/

Every time you go shopping, you share intimate details about your consumption patterns with retailers. And many of those retailers are studying those details to figure out what you like, what you need, and which coupons are most likely to make you happy. Target, for example, has figured out how to data-mine its way into your womb, to figure out whether you have a baby on the way long before you need to start buying diapers...Charles Duhigg outlines in the New York Times how Target tries to hook parents-to-be at that crucial moment before they turn into rampant — and loyal — buyers of all things pastel, plastic, and miniature. He talked to Target statistician Andrew Pole — before Target freaked out and cut off all communications — about the clues to a customer’s impending bundle of joy. Target assigns every customer a Guest ID number, tied to their credit card, name, or email address that becomes a bucket that stores a history of everything they’ve bought and any demographic information Target has collected from them or bought from other sources. Using that, Pole looked at historical buying data for all the ladies who had signed up for Target baby registries in the past...

So Target started sending coupons for baby items to customers according to their pregnancy scores. Duhigg shares an anecdote — so good that it sounds made up — that conveys how eerily accurate the targeting is. An angry man went into a Target outside of Minneapolis, demanding to talk to a manager:

“My daughter got this in the mail!” he said. “She’s still in high school, and you’re sending her coupons for baby clothes and cribs? Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?”

The manager didn’t have any idea what the man was talking about. He looked at the mailer. Sure enough, it was addressed to the man’s daughter and contained advertisements for maternity clothing, nursery furniture and pictures of smiling infants. The manager apologized and then called a few days later to apologize again.

(Nice customer service, Target.)

On the phone, though, the father was somewhat abashed. “I had a talk with my daughter,” he said. “It turns out there’s been some activities in my house I haven’t been completely aware of. She’s due in August. I owe you an apology.”

What Target discovered fairly quickly is that it creeped people out that the company knew about their pregnancies in advance.

“If we send someone a catalog and say, ‘Congratulations on your first child!’ and they’ve never told us they’re pregnant, that’s going to make some people uncomfortable,” Pole told me. “We are very conservative about compliance with all privacy laws. But even if you’re following the law, you can do things where people get queasy.”
La Vie en Rose Ghost Dog Feb 2012 #1
GD! What's the news in Europe? Demeter Feb 2012 #31
Well, Ghost Dog Feb 2012 #65
I concur with the historical analysis Demeter Feb 2012 #69
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Fire FHFA Director Ed DeMarco PETITION Demeter Feb 2012 #4
My pleasure. n/t Hotler Feb 2012 #86
K&R! hamerfan Feb 2012 #5
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They appear every four years by some accounts. n/t westerebus Feb 2012 #73
I guess instead of ponies... AnneD Feb 2012 #64
The other pot of goodies at the end of the rainbow. westerebus Feb 2012 #74
You inspire me! Demeter Feb 2012 #71
You made my day with that set. thanks westerebus Feb 2012 #75
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Congress. westerebus Feb 2012 #80
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Yes, but consider how far away from that situation we are Tansy_Gold Feb 2012 #60
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Not the same. Horrible, yes, but not the same thing Tansy_Gold Feb 2012 #82
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friday morning! xchrom Feb 2012 #28
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Because Small Business Has Been Garroted by Policy for Past Umpteen Years Demeter Feb 2012 #48
indeed. and i think that has made our workers more susceptible to economic upheaval. xchrom Feb 2012 #50
How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did Demeter Feb 2012 #47
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bye Miss Demeter -- have a good day! xchrom Feb 2012 #53
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Post removed Post removed Feb 2012 #87
If you have no hope Lisa D Feb 2012 #88
Hi Hotler! hamerfan Feb 2012 #89
Hey Hotler!! westerebus Feb 2012 #90
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