7. How Target Knows What You Want Before You Do Summary and Analysis

Andrew Pole is a statistician with target who developed models that helped predict which of the companies' customers is pregnant. Unfortunately, his model was so successful if offended women and angered them. Companies never even used to hire people like Pole, but they caught on recently that this kind of thinking can drastically raise profits. Habits play a critical role in shopping, and companies like Target spend large amounts of money tracking individual purchases. This data is handed over to statisticians like Pole who make predictions about customers. Habits in these settings tend to change drastically during important life events such as marriage and divorce. Pregnancy is the most dramatic of these events, and the most profitable to retailers. These models are fairly effective, but...