Shopping gets tracked

The psyche of the shopper is a thing of deep study – his buying pattern, behavior, impulses, all are a subject matter of huge study, especially in a market like USA. The capital of consumerism, USA mall operators and many retailers are trying to study and analyse buying behaviours to ensure they hit the jackpot by storing the right stuff which customers want.

Taking this study to a new level this time for the Christmas buying season are small gadgets or basically trackers which will keep a tab on what the customer buys or shows interest in. There are gadgets in shops which keep tab on shoppers’ cellphones and some retailers have installed trackers to enable them to identify shoppers' movements and tally how long people wait in line and where they shop. In fact ‘The Future of Privacy Forum’, a think tank has estimated that about 1,000 retailers, from tiny boutiques to Macy's Inc., have fitted trackers on their aisles with sensors to monitor shoppers' paths. This data is then analyzed by specialists to get insight and hopefully do better than the competitors. The trackers generate reports with shoppers' foot traffic as colors on a heat map, showing areas people avoid or where they congregate. It has been learnt that customers linger longest at displays located far from the entrance.

Indeed this is a breach of privacy as no one would want their movements tracked while shopping. Many retailers and malls have been asked to notify customers that they are being tracked. Well, we wonder when we will have such matured selling by retailers here but then sometimes, its good that we are left alone and not tracked every minute of your time out. Now privacy is something which Americans have compromised on….all in the name of security and now for “study”.