Target Your Shoppers – Retail Predictive Analytics

Best-in-Class Behavioral Analytics Case Study…I am reposting this well written article by Charles Duhigg on how Target is targeting customers using Predictive Analytics to anticipate shopper behavior.

Target  was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Target operates over 1,750 stores in 49 states under Target and SuperTarget names. It offers general merchandise products through its Website, Target.com. The company distributes its merchandise through a network of distribution centers, as well as third parties and direct shipping. Additionally, it offers credit to guests through its branded proprietary credit cards.

Data Analytics and Influencing Pregnant Shoppers

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? ”

 As the marketers explained to Pole  new parents are a retailer’s holy grail. Most shoppers don’t buy everything they need at one store. Instead, they buy groceries at the grocery store and toys at the toy store, and they visit Target only when they need certain items they associate with Target — cleaning supplies, say, or new socks or a six-month supply of toilet paper. But Target sells everything from milk to stuffed animals to lawn furniture to electronics, so one of the company’s primary goals is convincing customers that the only store they need is Target. But it’s a tough message to get across, even with the most ingenious ad campaigns, because once consumers’ shopping habits are ingrained, it’s incredibly difficult to change them.