Blog 3

Since I am very interested in statistics, I thought it would be interesting to research how companies use statistics to help them create customer profiles.  I was reading the consumerist the other day and they had posted a New York Times article about Target and how they get to know their customers through statistics.  They talk specifically about how when people go through major life changes, for instance having a baby, their brand loyalties are up for grabs.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

“…Timing is everything. 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. Which means that the key is to reach them earlier, before any other retailers know a baby is on the way. 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.”

Apparently we all have consumer habits that cause us to buy the same products, brands, and so on when we are in a normal state of mind.  This all changes when a major life event occurs, and our usual routine is forever changed.  If a company like Target can understand how these habits is created, it can make them easier to manipulate. 

It seems to me that Target is creating individual personas for each customer in their database.  They are able to track a person’s buying habits and notice any sudden changes.  Then they could go further and use the coupon generator at the check out to test these theories.

I know for a fact that when you buy any kind of baby product at HEB you get a coupon for Enfamil formula.  I assume this is automated and it spits out every single time someone purchases anything.  If they had been able to create a persona on me they would notice, that I have never purchased formula before at the store.  Whereas when I buy something at Target the coupon is related to the purchase.  For instance, the other day I bought a box of breast milk storage bags and when they checked me out I was given a coupon for Avent bottles.  Now this could have just been a coincidence, but that is the brand of bottle we use and I have bought them at Target before.

I would like to research more on why this works.  Either they need to store and immense amount of data on each individual and are in turn creating individual personas, or they are creating multiple personas then fitting customers into them using their past purchasing data.

Would it even be possible for them to create individual personas for customers?  Think of how it would work for these large companies:

-       Home Depot (New Homebuyer (New or Pre-owned), remodeling, re-landscaping, etc.)

-       HEB or Kroger

-       Macy’s

-       Best Buy

-       Office Depot? (Entrepreneur)

-       Apple App Store?

Would it work for smaller companies?

-       J. Crew

-       Coach

-       GAP

I am interested in exploring all of these possibilities and making recommendations on how a couple of different companies could use this to better understand their customers and what they want out of each unique experience with the store.