Share abandoned shopping cart data between shops

[shaharsol]

It's an idea I'd like to share with shop owners and receive their feedback before I launch something like this as an addon.

 

We all know the abandoned shopping cart issue. Once you get "ditched" you can start sending out emails, you can start retargeting using display advertising, etc but In the end, you can only get so few users back on the cart.

 

My idea is that the intent data in the shopping cart has value, and since you can't get the user to checkout, at least sell the data. Who will buy it? any other shop that the user just entered into. Wouldn't you pay a small fee to know in advance what products a walk-in user is interested in so you can save them from searching them, and sell it right as they enter the shop?

 

So in more technical overview, here's the usecase: user enters shop A. they add a GoPro camera to cart and abandon. Now the user enters shop B. Instead of seeing the general shop B homepage, they see a GoPro special landing page, since shop B knows GoPro is what the user after. No the user is more inclined to convert and buy that GoPro. shop B takes the deal, and pays whatever it would pay as affiliate commission to shop A (or any other agreed upon amount).

 

All this is done via a simple addon I will provide, and any shop that will use it will take part in the game.

 

How is that sound? Would you use such a system? Do you see any significant drawback?

 

Comments appreciated!

[burt]

Data Protection. I don't want my browsing habits shared between 1 shop and another. And I don't want any tracking cookies or anything else planted into my computer thanks.

 

It's a bad idea, from A to Z.

[shaharsol]

The data is shared anonymously. The cookie will only contain contents of shopping cart and nothing else. Or do you think this alone violates any privacy settings of shops?

[burt]

In my opinion any data sharing from 1 shop (that I'm happy to visit) and another shop (that I might not be happy to visit) is a violation of my privacy.

[MrPhil]

I have to agree with @@burt on this one. I too would be creeped out to find some random browsing I did following me around to other stores. Tracking cookies are bad enough (where legal), seeing the same ads pop up across all sorts of different web sites, but to go into a store and find the same stuff I was just looking at? Maybe I left the other store precisely because I didn't like that product area.

 

If you think this is something worth pursuing, I would at least use an "opt in" choice in a store to explicitly say that I would like to be followed around to different stores with my browsing habits.This brings up the point of what is the market for such a service? If someone looks at a GoPro in one store, and abandons it the shopping cart, it might be because they are looking for a better price elsewhere, or they have trouble with that store's cart, or they would rather look at something other than a GoPro. How would merchants handle such things? Would someone operate a slick, attractive site with high prices, knowing that they'll get a commission if someone landed there first and then went off to a cheaper store? How would consumers feel about such things, that part of what they're paying is a commission to a high price site?

 

Don't forget that this would likely be considered "tracking" and thus banned in some legal jurisdictions (including the E.U.).

 

Also keep it low key on the second/third/etc. sites. I may not be interested any more in a GoPro, so I could tolerate a "suggested" or "you might be interested in a GoPro" box, but don't make it a full page thing or otherwise force it down my throat. That would get me off the site so fast that all that merchant would see would be a streak of me leaving.