Because tracking customer habits on the internet wasn’t invasive enough for some retailers, an alarming number are now just straight up monitoring customer’s whereabouts in the real world.
According to ABC News, many retail apps now use in-phone GPS systems to track users, and push selectively targeted notifications, offers, and coupons to would-be customers.
In addition to the GPS-tracking, “stores are using Bluetooth, WiFi and even your phone’s microphone to determine your location even though most shoppers have no idea they’ve granted the retail apps so much access to their device.”
So, to put it in plain terms, we’re all being watched. But instead of by the NSA or Google, it’s by companies like Target, Macy’s and Urban Outfitters (among others).
“They have technologies that can follow you as you walk through sectors of the store and can connect to your data, so they know who you are,” said Joseph Turrow, author of the aptly titled ‘The Aisles Have Eyes.’ And the end goal is to “essentially track people in stores like they do online.”
But, the story notes, there is a way to stop the apps: just turn off the location tracking on your phone (instructions are provided in the article, for any who need them).
You can read more about it at ABC.
