Technology Reveals What Kind Of Shopper You Are




“You can’t have Christmas any more without big data and marketers,” said Jeff Chester, executive director at the Center for Digital Democracy. “You know that song where Santa knows when you’ve been sleeping? He knows when you’re awake? Believe me, that’s where he’s getting his information from.”

Consumer tracking has long been a part of American consumerism. Retailers push shoppers to sign up for loyalty cards, register purchased items for warranty programs and note zip codes to feed their mailing lists. Online stores and advertising services employ browser “cookies,” the tiny bits of software code that can track a person’s movements across the Internet, to analyze shoppers and present them with relevant pop-up ads.



To further lure buyers, major holiday retailers including, Macy’s, Best Buy and JCPenney, have partnered with the Shopkick mobile app. If shoppers turn on the app while in their store, they can be rewarded with discounts or song downloads for trying on clothes, scanning barcodes and making purchases.


Not all new technology tracking is voluntary. Stores have been experimenting with heat sensors and monitoring cellphone signals in their stores to monitor which aisles attract the most attention. One product called “Shopperception” uses the same motion-detection technology in the Xbox Connect to pick up a customer’s movement, including whether they picked up a product only to return it to the shelf. In addition to analyzing customer behavior, it can trigger nearby digital signs offering coupons and steering shoppers to certain products.

The company contends that the technology is less intrusive than other tracking devices, including security cameras, because a person’s image is never stored and their movements only registered as a data point.

Marketers also are learning to overcome limitations with software cookies. One tech startup called Drawbridge claims to have found a way to link a person’s laptop and mobile device by analyzing their movements online, enabling advertisers to reach the same consumer whether they’re on their work computer or smartphone.


“There are lots of potential uses of information that are not revealed to consumers,” said Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America. To protect themselves, “consumers still need to do quite a bit of shopping to make sure that they get (what) meets their needs the best and is the best price.”