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I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook gets to access to data about who purchases what and when The upside would be that you at least wouldn't keep seeing ads for

I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook gets to access to data about who purchases what and when The upside would be that you at least wouldn't keep seeing ads for things that you just purchased, as Facebook would know that you already have them. Kind of a crappy silver lining, I know.

travem 13y ago
I wouldn't be so sure, I am positive Amazon still bombards me with Kindle Ads despite owning a couple already :)
- mimiflynn 13y ago
  It has always struck me as odd that Amazon shows me ads for things I had searched for and didn't buy as though I didn't already know about those products. Seems they should perhaps show me what other people bought that searched for similar or the same products as myself.
  - freehunter 13y ago
    There was some talk of this on HN a while back, where the marketing theory presented was that there is a noticeable increase in sales if the customer walks away from a sale but is then later reminded of the product they almost bought.
  - hvass 13y ago
    From my experience with retargeting it drives amazing lift in conversions. A lot of platforms allow you to do this dynamic ad placing where you show the recently added item in a cart, but not purchased. Also, let's not forget that Amazon is obsessed with testing, I am sure they have troves of it to back up everything they are doing.
  - ianferrel 13y ago
    I walk away from purchases plenty of times not because I don't want to buy the thing I searched for, but because something more pressing comes up. Reminding me about the thing I was about to buy is very likely to get me to buy it in those cases.
- gmu3 13y ago
  Sounds like the ads are super effective then.
bruceboughton 13y ago
I wouldn't bet on it. Amazon knows exactly what I just bought and still shows me 100 different variations on it "recommended" for me.
- dblacc 13y ago
  I've often wondered why they do this. I see more variations of items I just purchased rather than accompanying/related items.
  - wattson12 13y ago
    it works for a lot of cases, e.g. buy a book and get other books recommended, not so well for rarer purchases like laptops or phones.
    - joosters 13y ago
      I still get recommendations for the same book I just bought, but in different editions/formats. Seems like it could be improved some more.
    - dingaling 13y ago
      But be careful of the 'Perfect Partner / frequently bought with...' recommendations, which Amazon themselves disavow as being in any way compatible: If two items listed as Perfect Partner / Frequently Bought Together are not compatible, Amazon.co.uk are unable to accept the return of either item for this reason.
- 27182818284 13y ago
  That's because it is just doing item-based collaborative filtering, right? It works beautifully other times. I bought chopsticks once and it showed me not more chopsticks, but other accessories for sushi, etc.
- sn0v 13y ago
  It drives me nuts when I log in to Amazon and it keeps showing me all these parts for building a new PC. Damnit Amazon I just built one! How many processors do you think a single gaming PC can fit?!

travem 13y ago

I wouldn't be so sure, I am positive Amazon still bombards me with Kindle Ads despite owning a couple already :)

mimiflynn 13y ago
It has always struck me as odd that Amazon shows me ads for things I had searched for and didn't buy as though I didn't already know about those products. Seems they should perhaps show me what other people bought that searched for similar or the same products as myself.
- freehunter 13y ago
  There was some talk of this on HN a while back, where the marketing theory presented was that there is a noticeable increase in sales if the customer walks away from a sale but is then later reminded of the product they almost bought.
- hvass 13y ago
  From my experience with retargeting it drives amazing lift in conversions. A lot of platforms allow you to do this dynamic ad placing where you show the recently added item in a cart, but not purchased. Also, let's not forget that Amazon is obsessed with testing, I am sure they have troves of it to back up everything they are doing.
- ianferrel 13y ago
  I walk away from purchases plenty of times not because I don't want to buy the thing I searched for, but because something more pressing comes up. Reminding me about the thing I was about to buy is very likely to get me to buy it in those cases.
gmu3 13y ago
Sounds like the ads are super effective then.

bruceboughton 13y ago

I wouldn't bet on it. Amazon knows exactly what I just bought and still shows me 100 different variations on it "recommended" for me.

dblacc 13y ago
I've often wondered why they do this. I see more variations of items I just purchased rather than accompanying/related items.
- wattson12 13y ago
  it works for a lot of cases, e.g. buy a book and get other books recommended, not so well for rarer purchases like laptops or phones.
  - joosters 13y ago
    I still get recommendations for the same book I just bought, but in different editions/formats. Seems like it could be improved some more.
  - dingaling 13y ago
    But be careful of the 'Perfect Partner / frequently bought with...' recommendations, which Amazon themselves disavow as being in any way compatible: If two items listed as Perfect Partner / Frequently Bought Together are not compatible, Amazon.co.uk are unable to accept the return of either item for this reason.
27182818284 13y ago
That's because it is just doing item-based collaborative filtering, right? It works beautifully other times. I bought chopsticks once and it showed me not more chopsticks, but other accessories for sushi, etc.
sn0v 13y ago
It drives me nuts when I log in to Amazon and it keeps showing me all these parts for building a new PC. Damnit Amazon I just built one! How many processors do you think a single gaming PC can fit?!