Tesco planning personalised online shopping experience

Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 16:20 by Mike Price

Tesco it setting out to revolutionise the type of safe shopping online process that its customers encounter, with head of the firm, Phil Clarke, outlining that there will be a new, personal approach to e-commerce in the future.

The website will basically adjust to suit your previous shopping trends, with Tesco leveraging all of the data that it collects about its customers via the Clubcard system, to make accurate predictions about what types of products you will be interested in buying.

The Daily Mail reports that this will boil down to more affluent customers being greeted by premium products, while those with tighter budgets will see the more affordable food items when they next log on to carry out safe shopping online with Tesco.

The simplicity of this arrangement is such that it seems odd for Tesco to only now be implementing it, but recent dips in sales and fears over its performance and market share, have forced the company to shake itself up across multiple platforms.

Mr Clarke argues that consumers will be able to enjoy an e-commerce experience which is comparable to the personal level of service that was available on the high street many decades ago.

He said that two or three decades ago, before supermarkets became the de facto standard for UK retail, many shopkeepers would have personal relationships with individual customers, allowing for a bespoke service that is tough to replicate today.

Tesco wants to bring this level of understanding over to online shopping, although it will obviously involve the impersonal harvesting of Clubcard data, rather than interaction with a real human being.

For Clubcard fans, this new set of changes to the Tesco website will doubtlessly be welcome, allowing them to find the products they need as quickly as possible. Those concerned about keeping their shopping habits private might be less enamoured.