Title: Ethics of customer tracking
Course: WISE copy MGMT 300 Foundations of Management > Section: Week 4: October 9 - October 15

Do you shop?  Well, you might be saying to yourself, that’s kind of a stupid question….of course I shop.  Well, here’s another question: Do you realize the extent to which retail stores are spying on you as you shop?  Although most of us “accept” the fact that when we shop online, we’re allowing the online retailer to install its cookies to track our every move and click.  Now however, technology is being used more frequently in the physical retail environment.  And it’s more than camera watching.  Many retailers are using cell phone tracking technology, personalized advertising, and super spy cams.  Why?  To track your behavior and to get you (and all those other shoppers) to buy more.  Results from a recent survey showed that 80 percent of consumers do not want stores to track their movements via smartphone.  And 44 percent said that a tracking program would make them less likely to shop at that store.

Answer the following questions in your discussion post:

1) What ethical dilemmas are involved with the strategy of retail consumer tracking?

2) What factors might influence a business’s decision to use this strategy?  (Think in terms of the various stakeholders who might be affected by this decision.)

Guidelines: 1) Your discussion post should be no less than 10 sentences, in total, to answer the above questions. 2) You must use a reference from your text or from another source to support your opinion. 3) Please respond to one of your classmates post OR see alternative. Your response should add to the discussion and not simply summarize what they said. To add new information you might consider (you don't have to do all or any of the following, they are simply suggestions to help you): providing guidance, sharing your experience (different than what you shared in your original post), tying in information form the textbook that pertains to their post, locate and provide an article or video that pertains to their post. ALTERNATIVE: 3) find a video or article discussing customer data collection or customer tracking or using customer data and post the video or article and provide a summary of the information contained in the video or article.