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This is a standard eCommerce tactic.

We watch how much time you spend on a page, if you mess with options, etc.

If you seem to have any interest in a product we want to unload, we send you a coupon.

We have literally hundreds of SKUs we do this for at any given time to clear warehouse space for newer stuff.

Amusingly, the tactic resembles in-person haggling in China (and many other places). Salesman offers price, you walk away, they run after you offering a lower price.

Where do you think we got the idea? ;)

That makes sense. I was indeed doing some hovering and dithering over tents.

What I found curious however, is the fact that I have never ordered anything from REI on my phone, nor logged on to any REI website (no cart, no account). All REI purchases go through my wife's account for the dividend.

How does casual browsing connect with an email address, excepting the Google search?

Sometimes I wonder if the Web has already passed some basic level of sentience.

You guys will let me know when that happens, right?

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