3 ms·

I’m always confused by single retail businesses trying to sell data (completely different story for financial institutions, airlines, ISPs, etc). I’m not sure w

I’m always confused by single retail businesses trying to sell data (completely different story for financial institutions, airlines, ISPs, etc). I’m not sure what I could but at Costco (excluding the pharmacy) that would be remotely relevant to somebody? What am I missing?

xxpor 2y ago
Every online store with search has an extremely obvious 1st party ad opportunity: sponsored results It's great because it's also not affected by ATT, since it's all 1st party.
- balderdash 2y ago
  That makes sense I was really thinking about in store purchase data
  - dylan604 2y ago
    Sometimes I wish I could think this innocently that I was unable to consider all of the nefarious ways people could use the data they have access to about you. Once you've peered in to just how accurate their inferences about can be, you loose one of your horcruxes.
  - xxpor 2y ago
    Oh, I'm sure they'll feed that into the ad tumbler too, don't get me wrong ;)
tmpz22 2y ago
How big is your household? How does your discretionary spending vary over time? Did you just start buying diapers for the first time? I think there's a lot of labeling that could happen from the data, and thats what advertisers want more of right?
- balderdash 2y ago
  I guess, but I feel like Costco is not a sole source shopping experience but rather a supplemental one. I try and buy my gas there since it’s definitely cheaper, I do t think you could infer a great deal from my driving habits by my purchase history
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - OptionOfT 2y ago
    We shop at Costco every week. And 2-3 times per month we need to go somewhere else to get garlic / bananas (our Costco has Del Monte bananas which... I don't like). Our previous one near Thousand Oaks had Dole which were significantly better. But overall, meat, lettuce, etc comes from Costco.
- whycome 2y ago
  Many members also get the credit card/member card. Which means they've also done a credit check. Memberships probably also have age and gender info which is useful for tracking against purchases. The membership model also means it would be really easy for them to add certain allowances for data collection (eg, in-store surveillance tracking to see where certain age groups go in the store and where they linger and what they look at.)
refulgentis 2y ago
Ad markets are horribly inefficient / thin on info, even in the efficient case*, that its absolute solid gold to know that ex. you purchased baby formula once a week for the last 6 weeks. * this is proxy grumbling about codecov.io ads appearing everywhere for a couple days every time I visit the site...but I've been a paid subscriber for 6 months
ellisv 2y ago
Retailers know what you bought from them and how much you spend with them. Costco has a better picture than most other retailers because of the membership model, but really all retailers engage with this. Knowing, for example, that a customer buys diapers, eggs, and milk once a week may be valuable for an advertiser trying to target specific demographics (like parents).

xxpor 2y ago

Every online store with search has an extremely obvious 1st party ad opportunity: sponsored results It's great because it's also not affected by ATT, since it's all 1st party.

balderdash 2y ago
That makes sense I was really thinking about in store purchase data
- dylan604 2y ago
  Sometimes I wish I could think this innocently that I was unable to consider all of the nefarious ways people could use the data they have access to about you. Once you've peered in to just how accurate their inferences about can be, you loose one of your horcruxes.
- xxpor 2y ago
  Oh, I'm sure they'll feed that into the ad tumbler too, don't get me wrong ;)

tmpz22 2y ago

How big is your household? How does your discretionary spending vary over time? Did you just start buying diapers for the first time? I think there's a lot of labeling that could happen from the data, and thats what advertisers want more of right?

balderdash 2y ago
I guess, but I feel like Costco is not a sole source shopping experience but rather a supplemental one. I try and buy my gas there since it’s definitely cheaper, I do t think you could infer a great deal from my driving habits by my purchase history
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- OptionOfT 2y ago
  We shop at Costco every week. And 2-3 times per month we need to go somewhere else to get garlic / bananas (our Costco has Del Monte bananas which... I don't like). Our previous one near Thousand Oaks had Dole which were significantly better. But overall, meat, lettuce, etc comes from Costco.
whycome 2y ago
Many members also get the credit card/member card. Which means they've also done a credit check. Memberships probably also have age and gender info which is useful for tracking against purchases. The membership model also means it would be really easy for them to add certain allowances for data collection (eg, in-store surveillance tracking to see where certain age groups go in the store and where they linger and what they look at.)

refulgentis 2y ago

Ad markets are horribly inefficient / thin on info, even in the efficient case*, that its absolute solid gold to know that ex. you purchased baby formula once a week for the last 6 weeks. * this is proxy grumbling about codecov.io ads appearing everywhere for a couple days every time I visit the site...but I've been a paid subscriber for 6 months

ellisv 2y ago

Retailers know what you bought from them and how much you spend with them. Costco has a better picture than most other retailers because of the membership model, but really all retailers engage with this. Knowing, for example, that a customer buys diapers, eggs, and milk once a week may be valuable for an advertiser trying to target specific demographics (like parents).