经济学人下载:每一点信息都有大用

Business Loyalty cards and insurance Every little helps
商业 购物卡与保险 每一点信息都有大用

As it pushes into finance, Tesco's Clubcard gives it a competitive edge
随着特斯科向金融行业进军，会员卡制度赋予了它竞争优势（不确定）

SOME young drivers get tanked up and wrap their cars round lampposts; others drive carefully, and sober.
一些年轻的司机给车加满油，把车停在路灯柱旁；其他的却细心驾驶保持清醒。（此处我认为可大胆以为 外行看热闹，内行看门道）。

Insurers would love to collect more background information on the personal habits of those buying motor, household and life policies, but do not want to put off potential customers with intrusive questionnaires.
保险公司愿意收集那些购买汽车，家居用品及人寿保险的人们的个人习惯信息，但是却不愿意用有侵扰性的问卷惹他们的潜在客户不高兴。

So they end up pooling groups of people by such basic factors as age, occupation and postcode, which means that some low-risk customers are lumped in with risky ones and subsidise their cover.
所以他们最终选择收集一些人的基本信息，如年龄、职业和邮编，着意味着高风险顾客和低风险顾客聚集在一起，这样可以弥补他们的损失。

If only insurers could stealthily gather a few titbits about their potential policyholders' consumption habits.
如果保险公司能够暗地里得到他们潜在的投保人的一些消费习惯就好了。

Such hints might help them more accurately target those customers least likely to make claims, and attract them with better rates.
这些暗示信息可能帮助他们更加准确的找到最不可能索赔的顾客，用更加实惠的保险费率吸引他们。

As it happens, Tesco routinely collects such information from holders of its Clubcard loyalty card.
恰巧，特斯科按照惯例会收集其会员购物卡主的这些信息。

As it bulks up in financial services, that may give Britain's largest supermarket chain an edge over traditional insurers.
随着他们金融服务业务的膨胀，这给了英国最大的超市连锁店超越传统保险公司的优势。

To give an obvious example, it would be worth offering pet insurance to someone who has started buying kitty-litter.
举个明显的例子，向一个开始购买猫咪使用的褥草的人提供宠物保险再合适不过了。

Buying lots of booze does not make you a drunk-driver, but someone who buys little or none seems less likely to be one.
买很多就不能说明你会是个醉驾者，但是不买或是很少买酒的人成为醉驾者的可能性就小多了。

Buyers of window locks are likely to be more security-conscious, and so on.
购买窗锁的人们可能更加关注安全，等等。

Tesco declined to discuss how it uses Clubcard data for this article.
特斯科拒绝谈论他们是怎样利用会员信息的。

But a group of students at the London School of Economics carried out a class project in which they made several applications for Tesco car insurance.
但是一群来自伦敦经济学院的学生实施了一个计划，他们想特斯科提交了几份汽车险申请。

When they gave the number of an unused Clubcard it earned a 1% discount. When they gave the same personal details but quoted the numbers of heavily used Clubcards, the discounts varied greatly, reaching 18%.
他们提供没有使用过的会员卡号时，只得到了1%的优惠，但是当他们提供了相同的个人信息，但提供了使用很频繁的会员卡号时，折扣变动很大，甚至达到18%.

To paraphrase Tesco's slogan, it seems that every little scrap of information helps.
或许可以这样解释特斯科公司的标语，似乎点点滴滴的小信息都有大用处。