[gaius]

Data. Amazon has a lot of data on consumer buying patterns

I have a folder of screenshots I keep of hilariously bad Amazon product suggestions. I have been a regular Amazon customer since the '90's and I can say with a high degree of confidence that their consumer data isn't that valuable. All the recommendations that make sense are directly off products, if I buy one flavour of food for my cats it will suggest another but hell, anyone can do that. It's not even smart enough to suggest other cat-related products.

[guitarbill]

It's not even smart enough to realise most items I buy are items you only need one of. E.g. if I buy a screwdriver set, or desk, or frying pan, I'll keep getting recommendations for other similar products. I'm pretty sure a random product suggester could do better.