by Alexandra Sukin ’15, Co Editor-in-Chief

It might seem relatively fun- and definitely not dangerous- sifting through row upon row of bright, discounted material, in heaps on shelves and then in a cart. Cashiers smile almost genuinely at the register, ask customers to swipe their card ever-so-innocently, dozens whisking away their finds. You would never guess that everything each customer touched, everywhere their eyes fell and then flitted away, only to settle on again, was calculated and quantified on a spreadsheet. Target didn’t need the NSA to know a customer was pregnant- just their credit card.

Almost every national retailer now has a “predictive analytics” department devoted to organizing the purchases consumers make at their store into “habits” that they can use to market to each consumer in an extremely effective, and unsettling, way. Ran out of dishwasher detergent? Great, because Walmart sent you a coupon yesterday for the exact brand you wanted. And it doesn’t end there. Even online stores are cashing in on the data you generate every time you type in your credit card number or even click on an item in an online catalogue.

The sidebars on websites are advertisements of that dress you just looked at, or the hiking gear that’s in your shopping cart on Amazon.com.  Information- your information- is exchanged between sites like poker chips. And that introduces the question of the implications of these new aggressive marketing techniques for the consumer’s privacy and range of choice.

Consumers are now presented with options or discounts on items they are inclined toward: a specific brand of chips, the jeans they’ve been buying for the last ten years. When buying clothes online, consumers are offered styles that are similar to other garments they previously clicked on. And if consumers accept the options an online store suggests, they may never even skim the site for something different or new. As a result, existing preferences are reinforced and exploited by online retailers.

Of course, there are some upsides: shopping is quicker and easier, items can be purchased for less and suggestions stores proffer can sometimes be helpful. It takes less thought and energy to find the products an individual needs. However, it’s important to be aware of the tradeoff between convenience and cost, on the one hand, and, on the other, privacy and individual growth and development.

Privacy is stripped from many consumers in retailers’ attempts to glean “habit” information. Stores tracking purchases are able to identify significant life changes in customers, sometimes before the customers have been able to share the news with family members. Also, if the life change involves a pregnancy or divorce, should that information be shared with other companies?

Another downfall is consumer diversity of choice. It’s harder to be receptive to new things when existing tendencies are continuously reinforced.  And it’s even harder to embrace change when consumers are never even presented with the choices.  Will retailing and predictive analytics eventually  reach the point where algorithms will determine what products consumers will be able to view?

In addition, it may also be more challenging to break bad habits.  What if an individual has a habit they’re trying to break or a lifestyle change they’re trying to make?  Targeted marketing may increase the challenges they face on their path toward self-improvement.

While there are benefits to targeted marketing, the consumer should be aware of how their shopping habits are constantly subject to data-mining. Understanding these new marketing techniques can enable consumers to break out of the box created for them by retailers and other companies.

*sources: The New York Times’ How Companies Learn Your Secrets by Charles DuHigg