Online shopping personalization: All you need to know

Posted by alvina on April 30th, 2022

So you’ve found yourself browsing through an online store and you’ve begun to wonder, just how do the various online stores know what to show you? How does it work?

To keep it simple, online shopping personalization works by using your browsing data (the information collected when you look at products on websites or click on ads on your social media feeds) and selecting content for you based on your previous interactions.

Keep reading, and we’ll tell you all you need to know about online shopping personalization and just how it works.

What is online shopping personalization?

Online shopping personalization is the process of collecting your user data and extrapolating information from it to decide what products you will want to see when looking at an online store or perhaps what you will want to purchase.

But just how does it work? And what data do they use to make these selections?

Data typically used for online shopping personalization includes:

Your search history: What products did you recently search for online.
Your purchase history: What products did you previously like and then purchase.
Your ad interactions: What previously caught your eye?
Your site history: What did you previously view on the online storefront?
Your demographic data: What do you share about yourself online, where do you live, etc.

How is the data collected for personalization?

If you have ever agreed to permissions on the various social media sites, you have most likely agreed to allow these platforms to monitor your online presence and use the information they gather to select what advertisements to show you.

Some online stores, however, use personalization engine tools that allow them to anonymously collect user data via reviews, customer surveys, and their previous interactions with their storefronts.

How is content selected for you?

The content selected for you in the process of online shopping personalization is actually a bit of a guessing game! Even though the various online stores and websites use the user data they collected to make their content suggestions, there’s still a lot of swing and miss.

Your user data tells the companies most of what there is to know about you, so using this information they are mostly successful in their content personalization.

Is it safe?

You may be wondering, just how safe can online shopping personalization be if the various websites collect and store your information. Well, despite what some would say, it is actually a very safe and secure process.

The websites only collect data based on products you have previously liked, as well as your demographic group. This means that none of your personal information is collected and stored, which helps you stay completely anonymous!

Conclusion

To summarize our little post, online shopping personalization is a wonderful thing. It has revolutionized the online shopping experience and creates an easier and simpler way for you to browse various websites without the stress of trying to find new items on your own.

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alvina

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alvina
Joined: March 22nd, 2017
Articles Posted: 259

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