A
credit card like object which
British Supermarkets and now, most other
retailers have
foisted upon
consumers.
I believe that
Tesco was the first to introduce them.
The card is
swiped at the
checkout each time one makes a
purchase in a
store belonging to the
chain, in return for "
Points", which are a bit like
XP, except more useful because you can
spend them on
shopping.
Sainsbury's, for example, awards 2 "new" points for every
pound spent in one of its
stores, which are worth half a
penny each. You can also receive
extra bonus points by purchasing whatever
product they are trying to
push this month. It's a fun game, but what does that
penny in the pound buy for
Sainsbury's?
Data about me, about
you, about our
shopping habits and buying
patterns -
data used to re-design
stores and test
advertising campaigns. With
data mining, who knows what it's being used for?
Paranoid types worry about this additional
intrustion into their
everyday lives.
Thanks to ConfusionTheWaitress who said "Contrary to your Reward Card write-up, I'm pretty damn sure that Sainsbury's were the last of the popular supermarkets to introduce them after a long period of saying they wouldn't. Tesco might have been the first." and made this node more accurate!