Do Retailers Track Your Shopping Behaviour?
Information is essential to every retailer. It tells them what products or services are in demand and how their customers feel towards them. In the retailers' eyes, collecting as much information as possible is vital.
However, customers can feel uncomfortable with smart technologies monitoring their actions and wonder how they're being watched and, more importantly, how to stop it.This article will explore retailers' tactics for gathering personal data. You'll learn different ways of keeping your data safe, allowing you to use online shopping sites without fear or regret.
Just how and why do retailers track you?
Many experts call this practice "commercial surveillance." It uses data-driven marketing from online platforms and social media to track shoppers.
The data collected can be used in marketing, customer service and support, and researching brand-new product lines.
There are many ways retailers collect your data, including:
1. Browser activity
Retailers can use various website tools to monitor user activity on websites. Often, this is done through tracking pixels. These tiny, transparent images return user data to the retailer when it loads.
Information can include your IP address, information about your devices, the browser software you are using, page views, and the time it takes for you to commit to a purchase. Retailers can also analyze keywords you might enter into search bars or engines that led you to their website.
2. Facial recognition
Facial recognition is becoming commonplace across many retail outlets, where shops can use cameras to identify customers. While many providers advertise the technology as a security means to stop repeat shoplifters, some shops use the information to improve their service and record customer behaviour.
Retailers can track customer gender, age, and movement throughout a store. The technology can analyze feelings and moods and anticipate behaviour. With dynamic pricing and digital signage, stores can immediately react to customers in order to maximize sales.
3. Loyalty programs
Retailers may devise loyalty programs to encourage customers to sign up for programs and avail of discounts. These programs encourage more spending but can also be used to research behaviour and track attitudes.
Because many loyalty memberships include a unique customer number, retailers can track your spending habits, activity, and preferences.
Many retailers will then use this information to create highly personalized advertisement campaigns and tailored lists to increase spending.
4. Free services
In this online age, retailers also provide various free services to collect information about you. One of the most popular is free Wi-Fi, which usually requires a person to create an account, answer questions, or pair their account to connect successfully.
A retailer can collect information about your movements via Wi-Fi, determine the time you spend in the area or even the websites you visit while connected.
How to protect your data from retailers
Below are effective ways of safeguarding your personal information, allowing you to shop and browse safely:
1. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
A VPN is one of the best lines of defence against privacy issues, especially regarding online shopping. It encrypts your internet traffic, ensuring your online activity is safe and secure.
This means no one can see what websites you visit or any services you use. They also cannot piece together sensitive information about your age, gender and location.
Best of all, many VPN providers offer ad block features that prevent intrusive advertising from appearing on different websites. It can also block malicious adverts, preventing potential malware infection if you accidentally click on them.
2. Think twice about free services and apps
As convenient as free Wi-Fi, apps, and loyalty programs can be, remember that if the retailer or provider is not reputable, they may not have your best interests at heart.
This also includes linking your social media and email accounts with apps and newsletters. While you think a business couldn’t be interested in your data, many companies will buy and sell customer data to the highest bidder.
3. Read the fine print
Finally, researching the retailer's privacy policies is one of the best ways to defend against privacy violations and undue tracking. This compulsory document should state how a business collects, stores and uses your information.
Learning how your information may be collected and used can empower customers to decide whether or not to submit their personal information. Otherwise, there should be opt-out or unsubscribe clauses wherever possible.
Some final tips
As this article has shown, retailers can and are tracking shoppers in various ways, some of which may be crossing the boundaries of what we're comfortable with.
It's important to remember that consumers are not powerless. By using cybersecurity tools like a VPN, researching and opting out of data collection, you can help protect sensitive information while still enjoying a great shopping experience.