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Target finally finds less-creepy way to track shopper habits online

The company's using Pinterest for a new recommendation engine.

 

Sarah Weber

Business

Posted on Dec 15, 2013   Updated on May 31, 2021, 11:48 pm CDT

We all know that Target and other major retailers are keeping close tabs on our lives and interests via our shopping habits. Remember that horrifying incident when Target sent a teenage girl coupons for baby clothes that effectively outed her pregnancy to her dad?

Well, the braintrust at Target is testing a new social tool with a different spin on gathering and disseminating customer interests.

The company’s new Pinterest-driven website, called the Target Awesome Shop, curates what other people are buying. Rather than Target guessing (probably pretty accurately) what you might enjoy, the AwesomeShop responds to what other customers are sharing and reviewing from the Target website. Customers’ favorite merchandise, based on recent pins and positive reviews, floats to the top of the catalogue.

The shop looks a lot like Pinterest, but with tweaks giving it a starkly minimal design. You can click images to see reviews, the number of pins, or to purchase the product.

If you trust your fellow shopper, and buy that the reviews are accurate, the Awesome Shop could be a useful tool in figuring out what, among the thousands of products on the website, won’t disappoint.

In a statement on the launch of the tool last week, Target said it’ll be watching feedback closely and could add additional social platforms to the mix later.

H/T Internetretailer.com | Photo by Keith Tyler/Flickr

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*First Published: Dec 15, 2013, 3:12 pm CST