On Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:58:45 +0100, St. wrote:

> Heard enough horror stories about them.

Such as?

I used to work in IT in the food/drug retail industry (but I don't any 
more).  So I'm curious how people think that data's being used.  I don't 
have a complete picture myself, but what I've seen of it in the chain I 
used to work in, I don't think it's anywhere as bad as people think.

Understanding customer spending habits allows a store to better stock up 
on the things I need/want.  In general, it would be impossible for a 
large chain to use that data to track individual shopping habits - the 
data is much more useful in determining things like aggregate products 
purchased by the local population and a better understanding of how 
customers use multiple stores in the same area.

I wonder what kind of stories Starbuck's data would give you, for 
example....

Jim

Post a reply to this message