Over the festive period, I’ve spent far more time in shops and watching telly than I normally would (and probably should). A couple of things jumped out at me which made me realise the importance of protecting our personal preferences and choices. This may sound like ‘bah humbug’ ranting – but it will come to a point, I promise.
Observation 1:
The supermarket is increasingly a battle of mental dexterity. I’ve seen ‘two for £5’ offers, with the same product in twice the volume for £4 underneath, and a ‘three for £5 offer’ when the normal price comes in at £4.95 for three. Drinks that normally come in 330ml bottles are being sold in multipacks for a supposed deal, but with a volume of only 300ml.
Then when putting a child’s pizza in the oven, I wondered just how the mandatory dietary information was so much better than I can ever seem to find on an adult’s pizza. I saw there was a * next to the note that this was the percentage of RDI (Recommended Daily Intake), so I looked for that * on the back – and found that these were percentages of RDI for an adult.
The theme here: supermarkets operate in such a mature and competitive market that the only way they can now ‘achieve value for shareholders’ is by hoodwinking us.
Observation 2:
If you watch any sport on TV, you are now bombarded with betting adverts. And these adverts are clearly designed to appeal to sports fans, and make them feel like they are in some way part of the game as if they’re betting on it. They all have slightly different angles, but they are attempting to appeal to something missing in the viewer’s life.
The money being spent on this advertising tells you there is money to be made here. This, coupled with the recent topic of fixed-odd betting machines and the danger they pose to vulnerable members of society, leads me to conclude that these companies are determined to relieve people of disposable income or encourage them to spend money that they really cannot afford to spend.
Consumer coercion
Both of these are examples of business practices to maximise profit which lean on psychology and sociology to coerce consumers. But messaging in the traditional outlets of physical shops and TV advertising has to be broad to catch all consumers, which means it is also a lot less effective. When these companies can message to individual people, such as in a betting app, or offers in a shopping app, or apply targeted advertising using historical information on shopping/betting habits along with personal taste, preferences and trends, it can be much more focused. And so it becomes much more dangerous, particularly for those who can’t afford to waste much of their income, i.e. the poorest and most vulnerable members of society.
Supermarkets already do this to some degree with their loyalty cards. We receive offers for slightly more volume than we normally purchase for a product, or perhaps a ‘deal’ on something we normally buy, which is actually more expensive. I wonder just what the betting apps are already doing in targeting individual behaviour to the companies’ advantage…
Respecting and protecting consumers
For now, I welcome the emergence of the German privately-owned supermarkets which don’t use loyalty programs to track preferences and leverage them, or use offers which aren’t really better for the consumer, in my view, to increase their profit margin. But in the long term, I’m very glad the EU has foreseen this danger and is protecting citizens from it as best they can.
We’ve discussed just two industries here and a very small part of the technological capabilities companies have today. The scale and breadth of how technology can affect customer targeting is massive. The GDPR in effect forces companies to take more responsibility for how they target consumers, and makes their use of data much more transparent and proportionate. And I can see other regions of the world following suit with similar legislation to prevent the dangers technology can now pose for society.
The impact of inaction would be devastating on the most vulnerable individuals, and damaging for society as a whole. Money spent that cannot be afforded is a sure way to create a credit crisis.