Loyalty card surveillance unsettles shoppers
Shoppers are disturbed that supermarkets are tracking what they buy through loyalty programs and emailing them about their favourite brands, a major survey shows.
Marketing Focus said the first Australian survey of so-called Big Data marketing showed loyalty card participants were getting personalised emails from supermarkets, usually a few hours before their regular grocery shop.
The emails highlighted which of the shoppers' recent purchases were on special at the store they frequented.
Managing director Barry Urquhart said most of the 1200 people surveyed disapproved of the practice, claiming it was "scary" and "disturbing" that their purchases were being recorded in detail.
The personalised emails typically highlighted the discount on about 15 of the shoppers' recent purchases, including the product size, brand and flavour.
"Consumers who have long felt that they are being watched and analysed are being confronted with that reality in a very stark manner," he said.
Mr Urquhart said the backlash appeared to have been prompted by retailers' increasing use of Big Data this year.
The survey showed 59 per cent found the practice unacceptable, bad or very bad. Only 21 per cent found it acceptable, good or very good. The remainder were neutral or did not respond.
Big Data is also used by department stores, liquor outlets and fashion chains in Australia.
There were privacy concerns in the US where the technique was so refined that stores could tailor marketing to pregnant women based on their trimester.
A spokeswoman for Woolworths said customers were "highly engaged" in its Everyday Rewards program.
"We know customers shop differently so we use Everyday Rewards to deliver personalised offers based on their shopping preferences," she said. "When customers swipe their card at the checkout they also enable us to make better decisions about the products we range in our stores and the offers we promote."
The Woolworths spokeswoman said data was analysed by Quantium.
In May, Woolworths paid about $20 million for a 50 per cent non-controlling stake in Quantium.
Woolworths and Coles said the loyalty cards were opt-in programs, the data was not shared outside the program partners and the terms and conditions were on their websites.
