Amazon.com Shopper Profiling
Not that I doubt the prophetic powers of Amazon.com’s shopper profiling algorithm, but consistently bizarre results have given me pause to consider if I’m not the person I think I am. If you’re not familiar with the technology, basically it combines your Amazon browsing purchasing habits, compares them to “similar” people’s and then adds a dash of “what we really WANT to sell you” from Amazon’s marketing database; making recommendations of things you MIGHT enjoy. The book recommendations are generally reasonable, but the product recommendations I’ve been getting are just plain bizarre. For example:
- Thomas the Train Play Tent (lead optional, I presume)
- Electric, Battery-Powered Socks (the heating kind, no super speed, afaik)
- Total Body Shaver Grooming Tool (Pip will find this particularly ironic)
- Tattoo Goo (specially formulated, post-tattoo skin conditioner)
From these insights, I have concluded that Amazon believes me to be an exceptionally hairy biker child with cold feet, possibly living in Antarctica. Oh, and they also want me to buy a Kindle. š
Now, this begs the question: What the hell have you been buying so far?
Yep. Amazon recently recommended to me a shaving gel called Coochy Cream.
Why? I don’t know. I don’t remember surfing for anything that might inadvertently lead them to think that I wanted such a product. I don’t recall browsing any books like “The Feminine Mystique (Shaving edition)” or “Zen and the Art of Bikini Line Maintenance.” Nonetheless, there it was in all its glory: Coochy Cream.
…The Pear Berry scent isn’t as nice as the Green Tea scent. Just in case you ever need to know.
What have I been buying so far… The Life and Time of JoJo the Dog-face Boy, March of the Penguins and Sturgis Bike Calendar 2008. Do you think that might have done it? Jk š
Nighthob, I know its only a matter of time before I run across a similarly named item in a certain, unnamed MMO, isn’t it? š
Amazon hasn’t given me any weirdness yet, most of their recommendations seem almost creepily appropriate.
I predict that Implementor will shortly start receiving all manner of Ayn Rand works. š