Dan Schiller’s reading, How to Think About Information, aids in our understanding of how we are able to connect commodities with information and how our presence online is the most significant contributor to this. Everything that we provide online contributes to the expansion of companies, because we are their market research. Companies want to create products and services that are attractive to us. Schiller explains that the way we socialize helps create a type of capitalist organization. He explains that “our product is information.” We make ourselves a commodity by providing this information. This benefits both the company and us because we are making their job easier, and we get products tailored to our interests. We make their job easier by providing information freely, without even knowing we are contributing to their information database.
An example of this is a membership or loyalty card to a store, like Shopper’s Drug Mart. Employees ask for your Shopper’s Optimum card after every purchase, whether you buy online or in store. This collects information about which demographic is buying what products. Then, we are bombarded with emails with when these products are on sale, and products that we would also like based on our purchases. They are using information provided by us, the buyer, to create specialized promotions that would help sell products quicker.
My question to you is, what is too much information? Do the rewards for customers overpower the usefulness of the cards? Or is it an annoyance to get bombarded with emails?
My question to you is, what is too much information? Do the rewards for customers overpower the usefulness of the cards? Or is it an annoyance to get bombarded with emails?
Schiller does offer a compelling understanding of how our information does in fact become a commodity. Of course, this is due to our online presence and based off of what we the user provides to companies who seek out our information. I can most definitely see how we make corporations jobs easier by providing our information freely with lack of knowledge as to where our information will end up and how it will be fed back to us. At this point in time I am unsure of what is considered as too much information, as I can truthfully say I am one of the consumers who willingly gives it away. Moreover, I think providing information to companies has become the societal norm that we have come to trust the process of doing of filling out applications with our information. Hence, the rise of the information economy that we now live which puts a premium to the generation of informational activity and industry. Although I am a customer who is easy to sway and buy into loyalty programs I find myself regretting joining as it is brutal receiving all these emails. For the amount of times that I have actually tried to receive rewards, and redeem points based on purchases I do think it is not worth it. A reason as to why I have joined rewards programs is to stop being bombarded with questions at the cash register asking if I do have one, or if I am interested in signing up. After learning in many ways how our information is used and fed back to us, I have put a restriction to the amount of programs I sign up for. Now I find myself questioning if it is worth it to give away my personal information and/or if it is secure.
ReplyDeleteI found this article that discusses 9 things you don't know about retail loyalty programs. I found number 4 on the list “Loyalty programs generate their own products” very applicable to this blog discussion. It emphasizes greatly on how ‘insights’ to consumer data generate much value to the corporations. This particular point proves how the accumulation of our consumer data that we willingly produce upon signing up and using loyalty cards is important to large corporations and their successes. Here is the link to the article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanpearson/2016/01/04/9-things-you-dont-know-about-retail-loyalty-programs-in-2016/#15c7089f4c05
I agree! I believe that many stores offer loyalty cards to obtain information about their customers. This is done through offering benefits to persuade customers to comply. Offers such as savings and discounted items are usually present. Companies such as Walmart offer "Walmart Master Cards". I do not use this because as stated in your post, I believe this crosses the boundary of too much information. They ask a number of questions about your personal life such as your address. This is a deal breaker for me.
ReplyDeleteHowever, with that being said, many companies offer alternative cards. These consist of points cards that do not require much information. Most of these cards can be accessed electronically and the information inputted is usually just a name and email. These are used as a way of obtaining points that will benefit customers in the future. I am more likely to use these types of loyalty cards over others that ask for personal information. A couple examples of companies that use cards to acquire points are companies such as Shoppers Drug Mart and Sephora.