As the world’s largest online shopping company you might think Amazon would have more than enough data on its customers but it seems this is still not enough, following the launch of a new scheme on the Alexa app.
Dressed up as a cashback rewards programme, the Shopping List Savings scheme allows customers to get money back on selected purchases but only if they give up other shopping data.
To use the feature, customers have to open the app before the go shopping and browsing through merchants’ offers, while adding them to their shopping list in-app.
After checking out at a store, the user must scan the receipt and product barcodes to finalise the offer deals in the app.
Within 48 hours, their cashback rewards will appear directly in their Amazon gift card account balance, which can be used to purchase any items on the Amazon marketplace.
Customers will need to take a photograph of every receipt for every item purchased in order to redeem any of the deals.
Ultimately, the scheme will allow Amazon to build a record of every item purchased that day,not only giving the firm insight into shopping habits but also competitors’ pricing.
Amazon has yet to reveal details on how it will process the data or whether it will be anonymised.
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