Your browsing be-havior for a big mac: economics of per-sonal information online

The desire to collect information on customers is not new for Target or any other large retailer, of course. Soon, youвЂ™ll be buying cereal and paper towels from us, and keep coming back.вЂќ If youвЂ™re rushing through the store, looking for bottles, and you pass orange juice, youвЂ™ll grab a carton. вЂњAs soon as we get them buying diapers from us, theyвЂ™re going to start buying everything else too. вЂњWe knew that if we could identify them in their second trimester, thereвЂ™s a good chance we could capture them for years,вЂќ Pole told me. вЂњCan you give us a list?вЂќ the marketers asked. Specifically, the marketers said they wanted to send specially designed ads to women in their second trimester, which is when most expectant mothers begin buying all sorts of new things, like prenatal vitamins and maternity clothing. Which means that the key is to reach them earlier, before any other retailers know a baby is on the way. Because birth records are usually public, the moment a couple have a new baby, they are almost instantaneously barraged with offers and incentives and advertisements from all sorts of companies. But as TargetвЂ™s marketers explained to Pole, timing is everything. One of those moments - the moment, really - is right around the birth of a child, when parents are exhausted and overwhelmed and their shopping patterns and brand loyalties are up for grabs.

There are, however, some brief periods in a personвЂ™s life when old routines fall apart and buying habits are suddenly in flux.

But itвЂ™s a tough message to get across, even with the most ingenious ad campaigns, because once consumersвЂ™ shopping habits are ingrained, itвЂ™s incredibly difficult to change them. But Target sells everything from milk to stuffed animals to lawn furniture to electronics, so one of the companyвЂ™s primary goals is convincing customers that the only store they need is Target. Instead, they buy groceries at the grocery store and toys at the toy store, and they visit Target only when they need certain items they associate with Target - cleaning supplies, say, or new socks or a six-month supply of toilet paper. Most shoppers donвЂ™t buy everything they need at one store.

вЂњI kind of like going out and evangelizing analytics.вЂќДЄs the marketers explained to Pole - and as Pole later explained to me, back when we were still speaking and before Target told him to stop - new parents are a retailerвЂ™s holy grail. вЂњThe stereotype of a math nerd is true,вЂќ he told me when I spoke with him last year. His parents were teachers in North Dakota, and while other kids were going to 4-H, Pole was doing algebra and writing computer programs. Pole has a masterвЂ™s degree in statistics and another in economics, and has been obsessed with the intersection of data and human behavior most of his life. Andrew Pole had just started working as a statistician for Target in 2002, when two colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk to ask an odd question: вЂњIf we wanted to figure out if a customer is pregnant, even if she didnвЂ™t want us to know, can you do that? вЂќ

Your browsing be-havior for a big mac: economics of per-sonal information online