Using customer …show more content…
He talked to Target statistician Andrew Pole regarding the clues to a customer's impending baby. Target assigns every customer a Guest ID number, tied to their credit card, name, or email address that acts as a folder that stores a history of everything they've bought and any demographic details Target has collected from them or bought from external sources. Using that, Pole looked at historical buying data for all the ladies who had signed up for Target baby registries in the …show more content…
“My daughter got this in the mail!” he said. “She’s still in high school, and you’re sending her coupons for baby clothes and cribs? Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?”
The manager didn’t have any idea what the man was talking about. He looked at the mailer. Sure enough, it was addressed to the man’s daughter and contained advertisements for maternity clothing, nursery furniture and pictures of smiling infants. The manager apologized and then called a few days later to apologize again.
On the phone, though, the father was somewhat abashed. “I had a talk with my daughter,” he said. “It turns out there’s been some activities in my house I haven’t been completely aware of. She’s due in August. I owe you an apology.”
In this case, Target using big data were accurately able to predict that the teenage girl was pregnant and sent discount coupons and ad brochures based on the data mined. This case clearly highlights how big data can be used to retain customers simply by making correct analysis of their past