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Why do supermarkets have loyalty cards? (feddit.uk)

submitted 1 week ago by pottery@feddit.uk to c/askuk@feddit.uk

23 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Can't they just track everything you buy using your payment card?

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[–] ianhclark510@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

In the states the company running the payment system (Visa, Mastercard etc) is a separate company than the supermarket and so they can’t necessarily group together all the purchases a single customer makes, let alone if they pay cash

Imagine a taxi driver, he might overhear your name and the address you’re going to, but that doesn’t mean he can go look up every taxi trip you took,

Now if you have a loyalty card there’s a single identity to group and market towards

Now take this all with a grain of salt, your system may be different, but the technique spread across markets

[–] pottery@feddit.uk 2 points 1 week ago

So the supermarket can't see your card details?

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Hmm. They print out a receipt with everything I bought that trip. They can connect that to the card I used to pay. How do they not have all the purchases I make?

I think the loyalty card is just about pushing ads and "deals", and selling our data.

I don't use them, nor the apps, or any of that. I go to the store and buy my groceries once a week. I block ads everywhere. So, while they have the data, they don't have a path back to my brain, so I don't see whatever they're doing with it.