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The competition has ended.
Digitec Galaxus launches "DG compatible" singles exchange
1.4.2019
Translation: machine translated
Love is in the air! Almost in time for the start of spring, Digitec Galaxus is launching the "DG compatible" singles exchange exclusively for all users. The feature is free of charge and automatically activated for all customers with immediate effect.
In recent years, Digitec Galaxus has invested considerable resources in the development of automation. The key technology for this is called machine learning. We use machine learning to automatically recognise patterns in countless data points. The aim is to make personalised and therefore better suggestions to our customers.
We use the technology in our newsletter, for example, in which we calculate personalised blog posts and offers for all subscribers. Such algorithms - we call them "recommenders" - are also already in use in a number of places on our portals. One example is the product suggestions, where interesting new products are displayed individually for each user.
The idea behind "DG compatible"
As part of these initiatives, Head of Engineering Raphael Renaud came up with the idea of using the countless data points to calculate the compatibility of customers with each other. "My hypothesis was that Apple fans are better suited to iPhone users than Android fans. Someone who collects Lego is unlikely to have a long relationship with someone who buys Playmobil. Those who constantly order sports equipment won't get on with the 'beautiful living' type," explains Renaud.
"According to science, buying behaviour is a relevant indicator for the functioning of a relationship," Renaud continues. "We take everything into account: Preference for luxury items or preferred ordering method. People who pick up in person at the shop are considered more extroverted than pure online shoppers. Our matching algorithm also takes other data into account, such as location, time and weather when browsing our portals. Even articles written by the Community are included: customers who write in Swiss German versus grammar perfectionists who like to correct others."
Solid science
Senior data scientist Alexander Jerak analysed the mountain of data, created various models and pitted them against each other. The most successful models were then passed to the deep learning algorithms. Incidentally, the technology was first tested on the employees of Digitec Galaxus AG. With success: not only did a few lovebirds form in the company - the first baby is even on the way. Yay!
Not to be concealed is what "DG compatible" does not (yet) achieve. "Based on usage, we can filter out singles with a very high degree of reliability and calculate their sexual preference. However, one problem is when an account is used by several people at the same time. "They regularly end up in the LGBT or queer pot," laughs Jerak.
Stefan Müller, CTO of Digitec Galaxus AG, lobbied the executive board to take a chance on the experiment - even though there were certain question marks. "We have gained a lot of experience with digitec in terms of compatibility. Now we have the opportunity as a company to give something back to our customers. With this technology, we have the opportunity to connect pale gamer nerds from digitec with fashionistas on Galaxus," says Müller. "Why are we doing this? Because we can! This argument ultimately convinced the executive board as well."
Contact suggestions by email
The feature is now available to all customers and regularly makes suggestions by email as to which customers "DG compatible" recognises as interesting for each other. Despite a certain rate of incorrect suggestions, we are so enthusiastic about our new feature that we have activated it directly for all customers.
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Header image: United thanks to "DG compatible": Tamara and Danilo.
Aurel Stevens
Chief Editor
aurel.stevens@digitecgalaxus.chI'm the master tamer at the flea circus that is the editorial team, a nine-to-five writer and 24/7 dad. Technology, computers and hi-fi make me tick. On top of that, I’m a rain-or-shine cyclist and generally in a good mood.
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