A real goldmine: Migros and Coop resell your customer data

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Migros and Coop have been sitting on a huge trove of data through their Cumulus and Supercard loyalty cards for years. Coop has now brought together data from all parts of the group into a centralized, in-house data management platform. Migros is also pursuing the same goal.

The data can be used to precisely analyze customer consumption behavior and thus optimize your own business in many aspects. Of course, with the approval of the card users.

Data for suppliers

However, many card users probably do not know that their data is also resold by Migros and Coop. According to the news of “NZZ am Sonntag”, Coop and Migros sell data packages to Swiss and international branded product manufacturers, that is, their suppliers. This allows them to tailor their advertising to specific target groups.

Monetizing customer data is nothing new: big tech companies have already perfected this approach. However, their data is based on search behavior and major retailers are able to document actual purchasing behavior. It is unknown how much they received in exchange for data. But it must be a beautiful piece.

Can anonymity be overcome?

Companies guarantee that data will only be sold anonymously. The fact that the data will be transmitted is also stated in the terms and conditions. According to Swiss law, this is sufficient. If you haven’t read this, it’s your fault.

Lucien Jucker, data protection expert at the Swiss Consumer Protection, nevertheless has doubts that anonymity is actually guaranteed in his article. According to him, research shows that if anonymized data is enriched with more information from other databases or cookies, for example, conclusions can be drawn about people. The only way to get “protection” is to not use the Cumulus or Supercard card. But this also means that countless customer benefits are lost.

Source :Blick