For marketers, AI and machine learning means personalisation is becoming more and more sophisticated, allowing retailers to supercharge their focus on us individually; a target market of one. This is gold for retailers, who are better able to cut through the competition and hone their dialogue with us; but it is actually in our best interest?
Tim Devine, Executive Creative Director at AQKA, says there are risks that come with hyper-personalisation when past habits shape future choices.
“If you're an unhealthy person, your shopping list would start to reinforce that,” Devine says. “If you eat poorly then you're going to get recommended more poor food. That's what the machines will learn: ‘Well Tim loves chips and soda, there's a special on chips and soda, I’ll recommend it’. At what point does a retailer change tack? ‘Chips and sodas are no good for Tim, I'm going to start to try and introduce better food choices for him - healthier chips, less sugar in his diet’ and so on. Will this ever happen? Or do businesses just want to keep reinforcing what we buy?”