Consumer Data
Handling Consumer Data
Introduction
When I visit my local Caltex Woolworths petrol station on “cheap fuel Wednesday” to cash in the 8c per litre credit that my Wife earned the previous Friday buying the groceries with our “Everyday Rewards” card, I did not, until researching this report, have any clue as to the contribution I was making to a database of frightening proportions and possibilities… nor that, when I also “decide” to pick up the on-sale, strategically-placed 600mL choc-milk, I am, in all likelihood, merely executing a prophesy that the retailer’s computers fully expected!
As dramatic as it may sound, the little-publicised practice of gathering information about consumers is a very real part of business today. It is able to yield surprisingly intimate details about our shopping preferences… and lives. This knowledge is invaluable in the hands of marketers.
This report discusses the rise of “consumer data” – the data gleaned, somewhat surreptitiously, from sources such as “loyalty programmes”, and supermarket point-of-sale terminals.
In particular, it focuses on a synergy between these two complementary data streams, and how it is able to provide retailers with an apparent silver bullet for marketing their products.
By way of moderation, mention is also made of the exposure created to new risks in the areas of ethics and corporate responsibility.
Consumer Data
The invention of the Cash Register in the late 19th Century harked a new era in retail sales information gathering. Initially designed to foil light-fingered employees, it soon developed the capability of printing receipts, thereby providing a rudimentary way of recording transaction information – sufficient for accounting and reconciliation purposes.
With the introduction of the computer and bar code scanner in the 1970’s, ensuing technological advances have seen the Electronic Point of Sale Terminal evolve to the point where it is now standard functionality to record
Introduction
When I visit my local Caltex Woolworths petrol station on “cheap fuel Wednesday” to cash in the 8c per litre credit that my Wife earned the previous Friday buying the groceries with our “Everyday Rewards” card, I did not, until researching this report, have any clue as to the contribution I was making to a database of frightening proportions and possibilities… nor that, when I also “decide” to pick up the on-sale, strategically-placed 600mL choc-milk, I am, in all likelihood, merely executing a prophesy that the retailer’s computers fully expected!
As dramatic as it may sound, the little-publicised practice of gathering information about consumers is a very real part of business today. It is able to yield surprisingly intimate details about our shopping preferences… and lives. This knowledge is invaluable in the hands of marketers.
This report discusses the rise of “consumer data” – the data gleaned, somewhat surreptitiously, from sources such as “loyalty programmes”, and supermarket point-of-sale terminals.
In particular, it focuses on a synergy between these two complementary data streams, and how it is able to provide retailers with an apparent silver bullet for marketing their products.
By way of moderation, mention is also made of the exposure created to new risks in the areas of ethics and corporate responsibility.
Consumer Data
The invention of the Cash Register in the late 19th Century harked a new era in retail sales information gathering. Initially designed to foil light-fingered employees, it soon developed the capability of printing receipts, thereby providing a rudimentary way of recording transaction information – sufficient for accounting and reconciliation purposes.
With the introduction of the computer and bar code scanner in the 1970’s, ensuing technological advances have seen the Electronic Point of Sale Terminal evolve to the point where it is now standard functionality to record
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