The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon last year was granted a patent for what it describes as “anticipatory shipping” that will look at consumers’ past buying habits and ship products that it thinks they will buy to nearby warehouses in anticipation of their orders.

So if you are in the habit or repeat buying a mobile phone, don’t be surprised to see the same one get delivered again through your letterbox, with a note “welcome back”.

Or if you are reading a series of books, Amazon will ship the next one in the series to your nearest depot, ready for your order. Spooky stuff but we underestimate how much retail giants know about out shopping habits and how accurately they can predict what we will buy and when.