Like dozens of other brick-and-mortar retailers, Nordstrom wanted to learn more
about its customers — how many came through the doors, how many were repeat
visitors — the kind of information that e-commerce sites like Amazon have in
spades. So last fall the company started testing new technology that allowed it
to track customers’ movements by following the Wi-Fi signals from their
smartphones.
But when Nordstrom posted a sign telling customers it was tracking them,
shoppers were unnerved. “We did hear some complaints,” said Tara Darrow, a spokeswoman for the store. Nordstrom ended the experiment in May, she said, in part because of the comments.
We’ve certainly read and heard a lot about data gathering lately, and the
term “Big Data” is making its way into the public lexicon. One issue
that’s come up often is “Given what we’ve found out about what is being done by
government agencies with available data, will we see a consumer backlash
against giving retailers information? Will consumers batten down their
privacy hatches?”
I’m a firm believer that an educated consumer will make better decisions, and so I thought I’d spend a few hundred words giving you some correct definitions, followed by some realistic retail scenarios.
I’m a firm believer that an educated consumer will make better decisions, and so I thought I’d spend a few hundred words giving you some correct definitions, followed by some realistic retail scenarios.
