How companies learn your secrets, Charles Duhigg

The New York Times Magazine, February 16 2012

 

Andrew Pole had just started working as a statistician for Target in 2002, when two colleagues from the marketing department stopped by his desk to ask an odd question: “If we wanted to figure out if a customer is pregnant, even if she didn’t want us to know, can you do that? ” [...]

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 [...]

the company’s primary goals is convincing customers that the only store they need is Target. [...]

Read the article on The New York Times Magazine website, and see how companies study your habits (recording what, when, where you buy) and use the data in their marketing strategies. The case of Target, a retailer company.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html