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. šŸ™‚

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6 Responses

  1. Mae says:

    Now, this begs the question: What the hell have you been buying so far?

  2. nighthob says:

    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.

  3. Mystech says:

    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 šŸ˜‰

  4. Mystech says:

    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? šŸ™‚

  5. implementor says:

    Amazon hasn’t given me any weirdness yet, most of their recommendations seem almost creepily appropriate.

  6. Mystech says:

    I predict that Implementor will shortly start receiving all manner of Ayn Rand works. šŸ˜‰

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