Predictive Analytics related article in the Wall Street Journal. The article begins:
Orbitz Worldwide has found that people who use Apple Inc.'s Mac computers spend as much as 30% more a night on hotels, so the online travel agency is starting to show them different, and sometimes costlier, travel options than Windows visitors see.
The Orbitz effort, which is in its early stages, demonstrates how tracking people's online activities can use even seemingly innocuous information—in this case, the fact that customers are visiting Orbitz.com from a Mac—to start predicting their tastes and spending habits.
It's a short, but actually thought provoking article. The headline would lead one to believe that Mac users were being exploited, however in my view this is far from the case. Rather what is happening is that Mac users are being delivered to those hotels which they are proven to be more likely to book; and if we know anything, it is that getting somebody to what they actually want to buy faster on an e-commerce site is a win for everyone - both the buyer and the seller.
It begs thinking more on the fact that too often we are working on the assumption that price is the most important factor to the buyer - when clearly it is only one consideration.
You can read the full article here.
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