零售商已经盯上你了

    几乎每个人都体会过一家公司对你钱包的挖掘深度超出你意愿时的那种被人侵犯的感觉。但新技术正在允许实体零售商以前所未有的方式入侵顾客的牛仔裤以搜寻个人信息。

    零售商现已掌握了追踪顾客手机的能力，从而能够以前所未有的方式获取顾客的购物习惯：从一位顾客造访一家店铺的频率，到他在一个橱窗展示站多久后才决定是否要进入店铺。

    这种数据也为商家提供了一个机会，借此与顾客携手制定一套让每个人都受益的规则。但企业似乎只满足于盗取数据这一行为本身，这不仅对它们的声誉造成了威胁，还会危及顾客的个人信息安全。

    《纽约时报》(New York Times)最近一篇文章报道称，一些商店正在使用Wi-Fi网络来跟踪顾客，甚至当这些顾客并不在商店网络覆盖范围的时候继续监控。为这种窥探行为辩解的一个常见说辞是，人们应该想到他们会收到监视。

    上个月在黑帽(Black Hat)网络安全会议遭受诘问后，国家安全局(NSA)局长基思•亚历山大切身领悟到，这种信念毫无根据。高档零售商诺德斯特龙公司(Nordstrom )在店内贴出告示，告知顾客他们正在被跟踪之后，这家连锁店也从不满意的顾客那里获得了这个讯息。正如《纽约时报》所报道的那样，诺德斯特龙公司于五月份终止了它的跟踪系统，部分原因是顾客对这种做法不满。

    目前尚无可靠的资料显示，究竟有多少家商店正在跟踪顾客。但根据为Nomi和Euclid等零售商提供这些技术的公司的成长情况来判断，从小咖啡馆到全国连锁店，这种行为广泛存在于各类商家之中。

    但零售商正在以错误的方式从事这项工作。“这是下一代顾客终身价值管理体系，”宾夕法尼亚大学沃顿商学院(Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)市场营销学教授、沃顿顾客行为分析中心(Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative)联席主任埃里克•布莱特劳说。“从顾客的角度来看，这样做有许多积极面，比如量身定制的交易。”

    布莱特劳表示，从员工观察顾客，到摄影机审视顾客对展览商品的反应，监测客户这种行为已经持续了数十年。但深入人们的口袋内提取信息还是一个新的前沿。

    布莱特劳主张零售商采取完全透明的跟踪方式，同时认为这种战略有助于加强顾客和商家之间的关系。毕竟，追踪的目标就是采用顾客希望的方式为他们提供更多受其青睐的商品，从而改善购物体验。通过让客户知道他们正在被跟踪，同时提供一个简单的退出方式，这些商家可以消除一种类似于斯诺登泄露事件带来的严重后果的风险。

    不幸的是，企业获取信息的便捷性和这类信息的价值使得透明度不可能成为普遍的做法。诺德斯特龙公司的经验或许会成为一个警示，即零售商应该保持沉默，继续偷偷摸摸地窃取信息。

    Just about everyone knows that feeling of violation when a company digs deeper into your pocket than you want, but new technology is allowing brick-and-mortar stores to invade their shoppers' Levis for personal information like never before.

    With the ability to track customer cell phones, retailers have unprecedented access to shoppers' habits, from how frequently a customer visits a store to how long he stands at a window display before deciding whether or not to enter the shop.

    Such data also offers an opportunity for merchants to work with their shoppers on writing a rulebook so that everyone can benefit, but businesses seem content with the five-finger discount, which poses a threat not only to their reputations, but also to the security of customers' personal information.

    A recent article in the New York Times revealed how stores can use Wi-Fi networks to track customers, even when those customers aren't on the store's network. A common argument to justify this prying is that, in an age of oversharing, people expect to be monitored.

    NSA director Keith Alexander learned just how unfounded this belief is after he was heckled last month at the Black Hat cyber security conference. Upscale retailer Nordstrom (JWN) also got the message from unhappy customers after the chain posted signs in its stores letting customers know that they were being tracked. As the Times reported, Nordstrom ended its tracking program in May, in part due to customer displeasure with the practice.

    There is no reliable information on how many stores are tracking customers, but based on the growth of companies that offer these technologies to retailers, like Nomi and Euclid, the practice is becoming widespread in all manner of business, from tiny coffee shops to national chains.

    Retailers are going about this the wrong way, though. "This is the next generation of customer lifetime value management," says Eric Bradlow, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the co-director of the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative. "There's lots of positive from the customer perspective, such as tailored deals."

    Customer monitoring has been going on for decades, from employees watching people to cameras examining customer reactions to displays, Bradlow says. But delving into people's pockets to extract information is a new frontier.

    Bradlow advocates total transparency by retailers and believes that such a strategy can strengthen the relationship between the customer and the merchant. After all, the goal of tracking is to improve the shopping experience by providing customers with more of what they want in the ways that they want it. By letting customers know that they are being tracked, and offering a simple way to opt out, these businesses eliminate the risk of a backlash following a Snowden-style leak, or worse.

    Unfortunately, the ease with which companies can poach information and the value of that information make it unlikely that transparency will become common practice. Nordstrom's experience will probably serve as a cautionary tale that retailers should keep their mouths shut and keep stealing.