经济学人248:积少成多 Every Little Helps

 　　Loyalty 1 cards and insurance

　　会员卡和保险
　　Every little helps
　　积少成多
　　As it pushes into finance, Tesco’s Clubcard gives it a competitive edge
　　乐购进军金融界，其会员卡为之奠定优势
　　SOME young drivers get tanked up and wrap their cars round lampposts; others drive carefully, and sober. 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 2 questionnaires. 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 3 ones and subsidize their cover.
　　一些年轻的司机给车加满油，不开而是停在路灯边上；也有一些谨慎上路，不过时刻清醒绝不酒驾。之于购置汽车，家居用品和人寿保险的消费者，保险商更乐意于收集他们的个人喜好，而不是用无礼的问卷赶走潜在客户。因此他们趋向于将收集的信息划成年龄，职业，地域邮编等分类，也就是说把不乐意冒风险的和有冒险意识的客户放在一起考虑，用后者的投资弥补前者的保险金。
　　If only insurers could stealthily gather a few titbits about their potential policyholders’ consumption habits. Such hints might help them more accurately 5 target those customers least likely to make claims, and attract them with better rates. As it happens, Tesco routinely collects such information from holders 4 of its Clubcard loyalty card. As it bulks up in financial services, that may give Britain’s largest supermarket chain an edge over traditional insurers.
　　若保险公司真能暗地里收集到些许潜在投保人的消费喜好也不是坏事。这些线索能帮他们更准确的找出不愿投保的人，并以优惠的利率将其吸引过来。碰巧乐购长期以来也正用会员忠诚卡收集客户的信息。乐购在金融服务业正日益壮大，相较于传统保险公司，这种忠诚卡将会使这个英国最大的超市产业链在信息收集上更具优势。
　　To give an obvious example, it would be worth offering pet insurance to someone who has started buying kitty-litter. Buying lots of booze does not make you a drunk-driver, but someone who buys little or none seems less likely to be one. Buyers of window locks are likely to be more security-conscious, and so on.
　　举个典型的例子，向开始买猫砂的人推销宠物保险是值得一试的；疯狂买酒的人不一定会酒驾（车祸保险），但几乎不买酒的人可能性更小；买窗锁的人极有可能安全意识较强，等等。
　　Tesco declined to discuss how it uses Clubcard data for this article. 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. 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 6 greatly, reaching 18%. To paraphrase 7 Tesco’s slogan, it seems that every little scrap 8 of information helps.
　　乐购拒绝在如何利用会员卡收集信息方面谈得过多。但伦敦经济学院的一组学生对此做了课题并投保了乐购车险。当他们报出一张已经闲置不用的卡号时，只得到1%的折扣；而当他们用同样的身份信息加上频繁一个使用的卡号时，折扣大的多，将近有18%。借用乐购的标语，似乎正是涓流成河，积少成多。
　　questionnaire n.(统计或调查用的)问卷，征求意见表
　　subsidize v. 给与补助金
　　stealthily adv. 暗地里, 偷偷摸摸地
　　booze n.酒(宴)，狂饮
　　vary v. 变化