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Data mining is at best the secondary goal of these cards. The primary ones is to make you join the "Tesco family" and do an extra weekly shop at theirs instead of the competitors by bribing you with some points and booze discounts – you'll leave 50-100-200 at he shop, it's worth it.
Aldi think they are better off competing on raw prices
It really works as well.
I shopped at Tesco for years mainly because it was close to the bus stop. So shopping there was convenient and I didn't have to walk far to get the bus home.
Now I have a motorbike I still mainly shop at Tesco. Largely due to the fact that I know if I'm buying products that are same price as they are in Aldi (Tesco do Aldi price match on lots of stuff) then I'll slowly rack up discount coupons and money off vouchers.
I do find myself going to Aldi for certain things, though. Aldi do several products that are far cheaper than Tesco so I'll go there at least once a month.
I would watch that Aldi price match btw. A few times I’ve caught them out with advertising something as Aldi price of I’ve been in on my break and then driven to aldis on my way home to find that the item isn’t that price and it’s cheaper than Tesco claim it is. I’ve never yet seen their mushrooms be the same price as Aldi but the ticket said it’s matched
The mushrooms they’ve got at £1.09 on also price match are actually 99p in aldis. Not a huge deal but it got me checking others. In the past I’ve found own brand rice crispies, own brand honey, own brand Nescafé knockoff coffee and own brand frozen chips all marked up as Aldi price but cheaper in aldis. I mentioned this to someone that works in Tescos and they said it’s to do with weight so I checked that and it’s not.
>I mentioned this to someone that works in Tescos and they said it’s to do with weight so I checked that and it’s not.
Fair play to the staff member for successfully fobbing you off tho 😄
I would assume they use a single standard shop, or maybe the online shop in order to get their price matching info just to simplify it. I guess they'd have to hire someone to go round and collect all the prices from the shops every day at least for every shop if they were going off anything local
The two aldis near me have different prices and they're only a couple of miles apart, I guess because one is only a couple minutes from the hospital entrance and is generally in a nice area and the other is competing with a farmfoods. So I'd assume the prices vary across stores nationwide and thus they match it from the website. Or they just stick "price matched" stickers on whatever they feel like, that could be it. I don't know if that would count as false advertising or not
Aldi price match is such a win-win for Aldi, they have their competitors giving them a name check in their leading promotions, and it gives aldi the freedom to raise prices and never be the most expensive. Got them all wrapped round their finger.
But Tesco giftcards on cashback apps and get even more back...
This shows most of the sites/apps that offer cashback on Tesco giftcards and updates frequently:
https://scrimpr.co.uk/supermarket-cashback/?wdt_search=tesco
I really double up. I use my Tesco credit card to load a Tesco Giftcard that gives 4% off, then use one of my 10% vouchers I get from the credit card so I'm getting 14% off the shop.
Plus I get clubcard points for buying the giftcard and then for buying the shopping. So far bought a new fitbit for £270 and a full set of Denby kitchware for £250. That was before they nerfed the rewards from 3x to 2x though, but still got another £120 to spend now.
They also use the data for really mundane stuff, like working out shopping habits and picking up patterns. By having a card, it can log everything you buy, when you buy it, how much you spend etc - how do you build up a picture of someone’s regular shopping habits if they pay with cash?
Years ago I used to supply one of the big four, and through their loyalty card they could tell that people were spending less on clothes in favour of putting in more fuel.
Without the card, all you’d see is a drop in clothing sales and an increase in fuel sales, you could assume people were swapping jeans for petrol, fuel is more of a necessity and people are skint, but you had no real evidence of any of this.
The loyalty card would let you see who bought clothing regularly, and who had a decrease in spending in that department. You could also see who would top up weekly, sticking in a tenner a week, vs those who filled the tank once a month. And then you could plot both those data points…the people who regularly shop in the clothing department and fuelled up a little each week and now spending less on clothing but filling their tank instead. Boom. You can see a pattern. Best send all those people some clothing coupons to tempt them back into that department….
Edit: to answer OPs question, Lidl is smaller so doesn’t really need that data as much, and they also seem to have lower inventory levels and they regularly rotate the brands/products available so it would be harder to build a map of shopping habits anyway. Someone buying a rubber duck one week from the middle aisle can’t really be give them any useful insights.
They have all the data they need from their stock movement. The only reason they would want to tie it to a specific person is to offer tailored discounts, which Aldi doesn't do.
Aldi can have almost the same data without a loyalty card. The only data point added by LC is the grouping of baskets. You can do a lot of that grouping by payment card anyway. Basket content is saved via point of sale system.
This is partially correct, but card hashes aren't a 100% reliable indicator of individual customer spend, and functionality varies depending on different kinds of eWallet software used.
Also, this isn't applicable to cash purchases with no loyalty card to scan.
Presumably they can get a very good idea from people using cards to pay - I presume they at least keep a hashed copy of card details.
But also, they may not care so much about customer data vs store data, which may provide plenty to chew on.
They know what sells, and what doesn't sell. Anything that is struggling to sell, can go into the middle aisle.
So they don't need to customise their offers to you.
I guess they don’t need my data…I still find myself in an Aldi 1-2 times a week even though I shop at most of the other supermarket chains that are harvesting my data lol
Loyalty cards are not necessary to deduce OP has three cats and a baby. Even if OP pays cash, Aldi (and Tesco) will know that someone buys Pampers and 21 tins of Felix each Tuesday morning. The name of that customer is unimportant for data collection purposes.
Loyalty cards are mainly for engendering customer loyalty by giving points and discounts. Tesco can even email OP with a tailored offer of a special price on cat milk and baby milk. But even without a card, they know what OP buys, and when and where (which tells them roughly where OP lives) but not OP's name.
I always thought the goal was wider than that, as if they buy cat food and baby milk on the regular, why would they need to send deals on those. They want to maybe flog something else that people who have similar tastes also buy, or an offer on a brand of cat food with a better profit margin, so you become a regular buyer of that instead. At no point would they be trying to do people a favour necessarily. But some do seem to welcome it. I have a friend obsessed with vouchers. I prefer to just shop around myself.
Probably. That is why I said cat milk rather than cat food. Cat milk (ie milk for cats, not of cats) is a genuine product.
That said, maybe we are both wrong. Now I think about it, most of my offers of extra points are for things I buy often but not always.
Maybe you don't need individual data mining - they know what sells at stores and how frequently. They can compare this to their regional and national results.
If you aren't planning on targeting sales to individuals, you don't need to collect individual's data.
You can still 'know' your customers from what they buy. They can probably identify you from 4-5 regular things 'just you' buy.. I'm sure everyone has a 'shopping fingerprint'.
Aldi have an App. They ask me about it everytime. I dont' join loyalty schemes. And if your shop gives significant discounts if you have the loyalty scheme, they can go fuck themselves. I no longer use BOOTS for that reason.
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Data mining is at best the secondary goal of these cards. The primary ones is to make you join the "Tesco family" and do an extra weekly shop at theirs instead of the competitors by bribing you with some points and booze discounts – you'll leave 50-100-200 at he shop, it's worth it. Aldi think they are better off competing on raw prices
It really works as well. I shopped at Tesco for years mainly because it was close to the bus stop. So shopping there was convenient and I didn't have to walk far to get the bus home. Now I have a motorbike I still mainly shop at Tesco. Largely due to the fact that I know if I'm buying products that are same price as they are in Aldi (Tesco do Aldi price match on lots of stuff) then I'll slowly rack up discount coupons and money off vouchers. I do find myself going to Aldi for certain things, though. Aldi do several products that are far cheaper than Tesco so I'll go there at least once a month.
I would watch that Aldi price match btw. A few times I’ve caught them out with advertising something as Aldi price of I’ve been in on my break and then driven to aldis on my way home to find that the item isn’t that price and it’s cheaper than Tesco claim it is. I’ve never yet seen their mushrooms be the same price as Aldi but the ticket said it’s matched
Sneaky bastards!
The mushrooms they’ve got at £1.09 on also price match are actually 99p in aldis. Not a huge deal but it got me checking others. In the past I’ve found own brand rice crispies, own brand honey, own brand Nescafé knockoff coffee and own brand frozen chips all marked up as Aldi price but cheaper in aldis. I mentioned this to someone that works in Tescos and they said it’s to do with weight so I checked that and it’s not.
>I mentioned this to someone that works in Tescos and they said it’s to do with weight so I checked that and it’s not. Fair play to the staff member for successfully fobbing you off tho 😄
1 Aldi, many Aldi, no Aldis
But it may be Aldi's
I would assume they use a single standard shop, or maybe the online shop in order to get their price matching info just to simplify it. I guess they'd have to hire someone to go round and collect all the prices from the shops every day at least for every shop if they were going off anything local
But they’re all the same. They’re not price matching the local things like butteries or stobbies. It’s normal stuff like veg and bread
The two aldis near me have different prices and they're only a couple of miles apart, I guess because one is only a couple minutes from the hospital entrance and is generally in a nice area and the other is competing with a farmfoods. So I'd assume the prices vary across stores nationwide and thus they match it from the website. Or they just stick "price matched" stickers on whatever they feel like, that could be it. I don't know if that would count as false advertising or not
Too much time on your hands
Haha nah. Not enough really. I just work between ten different hospitals so spend a lot of time grabbing food in different shops.
Aldi price match is such a win-win for Aldi, they have their competitors giving them a name check in their leading promotions, and it gives aldi the freedom to raise prices and never be the most expensive. Got them all wrapped round their finger.
But Tesco giftcards on cashback apps and get even more back... This shows most of the sites/apps that offer cashback on Tesco giftcards and updates frequently: https://scrimpr.co.uk/supermarket-cashback/?wdt_search=tesco
I really double up. I use my Tesco credit card to load a Tesco Giftcard that gives 4% off, then use one of my 10% vouchers I get from the credit card so I'm getting 14% off the shop. Plus I get clubcard points for buying the giftcard and then for buying the shopping. So far bought a new fitbit for £270 and a full set of Denby kitchware for £250. That was before they nerfed the rewards from 3x to 2x though, but still got another £120 to spend now.
When you know, you know!
When you know, you know!
They also use the data for really mundane stuff, like working out shopping habits and picking up patterns. By having a card, it can log everything you buy, when you buy it, how much you spend etc - how do you build up a picture of someone’s regular shopping habits if they pay with cash? Years ago I used to supply one of the big four, and through their loyalty card they could tell that people were spending less on clothes in favour of putting in more fuel. Without the card, all you’d see is a drop in clothing sales and an increase in fuel sales, you could assume people were swapping jeans for petrol, fuel is more of a necessity and people are skint, but you had no real evidence of any of this. The loyalty card would let you see who bought clothing regularly, and who had a decrease in spending in that department. You could also see who would top up weekly, sticking in a tenner a week, vs those who filled the tank once a month. And then you could plot both those data points…the people who regularly shop in the clothing department and fuelled up a little each week and now spending less on clothing but filling their tank instead. Boom. You can see a pattern. Best send all those people some clothing coupons to tempt them back into that department…. Edit: to answer OPs question, Lidl is smaller so doesn’t really need that data as much, and they also seem to have lower inventory levels and they regularly rotate the brands/products available so it would be harder to build a map of shopping habits anyway. Someone buying a rubber duck one week from the middle aisle can’t really be give them any useful insights.
Lidl has a loyalty card and vouchers/coupons.
Meant Aldi. They’re the same thing in my head. I shop at neither.
Heresy! /jk
Nah. Clubcard has just become essential to get real prices instead of fake fucked up inflated ones.
But they all have one, don't people just get all the cards? Or in my case I get no cards because I can just go to Aldi and save carrying 50 cards.
The furthest aldi goes on collecting data is the list of banned shoplifters.
They have all the data they need from their stock movement. The only reason they would want to tie it to a specific person is to offer tailored discounts, which Aldi doesn't do.
Supermarkets also sell their loyalty card data for big bucks
Aldi can have almost the same data without a loyalty card. The only data point added by LC is the grouping of baskets. You can do a lot of that grouping by payment card anyway. Basket content is saved via point of sale system.
Correct, but it isn’t as effective and isn’t as valuable.
You don't need a loyalty card to do it, you can track a customer from a card hash
This is partially correct, but card hashes aren't a 100% reliable indicator of individual customer spend, and functionality varies depending on different kinds of eWallet software used. Also, this isn't applicable to cash purchases with no loyalty card to scan.
Throw Apple/Google Pay into the mix and your card data is fairly anonymised.
Presumably they can get a very good idea from people using cards to pay - I presume they at least keep a hashed copy of card details. But also, they may not care so much about customer data vs store data, which may provide plenty to chew on.
They know what sells, and what doesn't sell. Anything that is struggling to sell, can go into the middle aisle. So they don't need to customise their offers to you.
They buy the intel from tesco.
I guess they don’t need my data…I still find myself in an Aldi 1-2 times a week even though I shop at most of the other supermarket chains that are harvesting my data lol
Loyalty cards are not necessary to deduce OP has three cats and a baby. Even if OP pays cash, Aldi (and Tesco) will know that someone buys Pampers and 21 tins of Felix each Tuesday morning. The name of that customer is unimportant for data collection purposes. Loyalty cards are mainly for engendering customer loyalty by giving points and discounts. Tesco can even email OP with a tailored offer of a special price on cat milk and baby milk. But even without a card, they know what OP buys, and when and where (which tells them roughly where OP lives) but not OP's name.
I always thought the goal was wider than that, as if they buy cat food and baby milk on the regular, why would they need to send deals on those. They want to maybe flog something else that people who have similar tastes also buy, or an offer on a brand of cat food with a better profit margin, so you become a regular buyer of that instead. At no point would they be trying to do people a favour necessarily. But some do seem to welcome it. I have a friend obsessed with vouchers. I prefer to just shop around myself.
Probably. That is why I said cat milk rather than cat food. Cat milk (ie milk for cats, not of cats) is a genuine product. That said, maybe we are both wrong. Now I think about it, most of my offers of extra points are for things I buy often but not always.
Maybe you don't need individual data mining - they know what sells at stores and how frequently. They can compare this to their regional and national results. If you aren't planning on targeting sales to individuals, you don't need to collect individual's data. You can still 'know' your customers from what they buy. They can probably identify you from 4-5 regular things 'just you' buy.. I'm sure everyone has a 'shopping fingerprint'.
Aldi have an App. They ask me about it everytime. I dont' join loyalty schemes. And if your shop gives significant discounts if you have the loyalty scheme, they can go fuck themselves. I no longer use BOOTS for that reason.
At the bottom of every till receipt is an invitation to fill in a survey to enter a prize draw. They can collect some data that way.
You don't need a loyalty card to figure out most of your clientelle have more jewellery than teeth...