They have data for sure. But their usage of it is meh.
Amazon is for some reason is showing me no less than 8 different replacements for office chair legs. Because I totally need a collection of those.
And 4 office chairs for good measure.
There's also a whole row of adapter cables, like HDMI to Display port.
It also thinks I'm in need for a new 1000W PSU, for some reason.
And a whole row of kitchen equipment.
Amazon on the whole seems unable to get the idea that there's a bunch of stuff that you buy based on the rare need, and that once I say, fix my broken chair, that need is now 100% satisfied and it's pointless to advertise to me on that subject any further.
Your assumption is that amazon is using their data to make things like their site's search feature better for you. That's not the case. Your data will likely never be used for your benefit. It will only be used for amazon's benefit, and if they've got office chair legs to push, that's what you're going to get and they'll continue pushing them until they feel they no longer need to.
That data exists to help amazon manipulate you and/or get the most money from you whenever and however they want, no matter how you feel about it. Maybe it would be mutually beneficial for amazon to show you ads for things you actually need or care about, but amazon only cares about amazon and amazon's needs. When, how, or if they use your data against you is up to them, not you.
That makes no sense. There's no amount of pushing a replacement part that I don't need that could possibly work. There's nothing to do with it until something breaks. If it does break, then I'm going to search for it. It's not an impulse buy in any way whatsoever.
Same goes for stuff like adapters. If I'm buying an HDMI to DVI adapter it's because I have an old monitor hanging around I want to use with a modern computer, not because I want to improve my cable collection.
Amazon may think you haven't bought a new chair in a while so maybe yours is getting old and worn out. Even if you've recently repaired a leg it's not unreasonable that if you needed a replacement leg for an old chair, you might want (or will soon need) to replace the other legs, or the legs for other chairs you might have. Maybe they just want you thinking about chairs and wondering how soon until you'll need to replace a chair/leg. Maybe they just want you thinking about replacement parts, and the legs are just one example of a replacement part to put the thought in your mind.
I couldn't tell you the number of times that I've bought an adapter that turned out to be trash, or was somehow not what I needed, and had to buy another. Sometimes I even buy 2-3 at a time from different brands/sellers because they're cheap enough, handy to have extras of anyway, and I expect at least one to be garbage that doesn't work at all.
Still, the point is that it doesn't need to make sense, least of all to you. Amazon will use the data it collects how it wants in whatever way amazon thinks will be most beneficial to amazon.
Yeh I’ve seen this before on Amazon. All Amazon need to do is create a classification of a product around whether it is a repeat purchase or not. This could then be fed into the recommendations model.
Repeat purchase probability for Milk: 0.9899
Repeat purchase probability for office chair leg: 0.023
The reality is that the probability of buying multiple office chair legs is higher than people expect. For some reason people can't comprehend a person ever needing to buy multiple of something if they only needed one. I worked at Amazon and this was a recurring theme. People do buy multiple of all kinds of things things and based on your previous purchases it might be reasonable to recommend another similar item. However, when it's wrong, people notice.
Amazon hasn’t updated their privacy policy to acknowledge that they’re subject to CRPA, but any California resident may now demand that Amazon stop profiling their Kindle tracking data. Specifically:
> SEC.14.1798.140 (ae) Sensitive personal information means: (1) personal information that reveals (D) a consumer’s racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, or union membership; and (2) (C) personal information collected and analyzed concerning a consumer's sex life or sexual orientation.
> SEC.14.1798.121 (a) A consumer shall have the right, at any time, to direct a business that collects sensitive personal information about the consumer to limit its use of the consumer’s sensitive personal information to that use which is necessary, [except] (d) Sensitive Personal information that is collected or processed without the purpose of inferring characteristics about a consumer [which] is not subject to this
Given those two clauses, it is apparent how to construct the necessary customer service request in order to require compliance:
“I am exercising my rights under CRPA 14.1798.121(a) as a California resident to require Amazon to limit your use of my sensitive personal information to only those uses necessary to deliver service. My Kindle reading and tracking data, as seen in my data request report, is sensitive personal information as described by CRPA 14.1798.140(ae) sections (1)(D) and (2)(C), revealing both my religious and philosophical beliefs and concerning my sex life and sexual orientation. Please confirm to me in writing either that Amazon has ceased processing of my sensitive Kindle personal data for non-necessary purposes unrelated to the delivery of Kindle purchases to Kindle devices, or that Amazon does not infer characteristics about individual consumers from sensitive personal information collected from Kindle devices.”
Consider also filing a complaint with the CRPA enforcement arm noting that Amazon hasn’t acknowledged the CRPA and that you’re taking steps to require their compliance, and update them if/when Amazon either complies refuses, or contests your interpretation: https://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-complaint-against-busine...
Amazon is for some reason is showing me no less than 8 different replacements for office chair legs. Because I totally need a collection of those.
And 4 office chairs for good measure.
There's also a whole row of adapter cables, like HDMI to Display port.
It also thinks I'm in need for a new 1000W PSU, for some reason.
And a whole row of kitchen equipment.
Amazon on the whole seems unable to get the idea that there's a bunch of stuff that you buy based on the rare need, and that once I say, fix my broken chair, that need is now 100% satisfied and it's pointless to advertise to me on that subject any further.