Amazon lurks user data so thoroughly that it plans to begin shipping items it thinks customers will be interested in before they even order them.
The online retailer was granted a patent for "anticipatory shipping," a mechanism through which it will preemptively box and ship products to shipping centers in areas where it thinks they will be in demand. The technique will take into account customers' wishlists, search and purchase history, and even the amount of time their cursor hovers over a product page.
The move is designed to streamline the shipping process, given that lag time between order and arrival can "dissuade customers from buying items from online merchants.” In recent years, Amazon has introduced a handful of measures to cut delivery times, including weekend delivery, storage locker service, and the concept of drone shipping.
[via The Verge]
