Study: Retailers have a way to go to earn consumer trust

When it comes to respecting their privacy, consumers are less than satisfied with the retailers they shop.



According to analysis of social sentiment of more than 220,000 consumers by Capgemini Group, “Privacy Please: Why Retailers Need to Rethink Personalization,” 93% of all consumer sentiment on retail privacy was negative



The report finds that the main factors contributing to negative sentiment are data security (76%) and intrusive behavior by the retailer (51%). Consumer skepticism grew when trigger incidents occurred, including updates of privacy policies during mergers and acquisitions, or regulatory inquiries into a retailer’s violation of data security policies



Technology perceived as intrusive was met with high suspicion, including in-store traffic monitoring (84% negative) and facial recognition (81% negative)



The report also indicates that 80% of all consumer sentiment on personalization was positive globally. But there are some discrepancies across regions – North America is positive about retailers’ personalized offers, while Europe displays a mixed sentiment.



Only 14% of retailers are perceived positively by consumers on both personalization and privacy initiatives. Nearly 29% of retailers leaving consumers dissatisfied with both their personalization and privacy initiatives, largely due to intrusive loyalty programs, excessive promotional mails, poor in-store service, or confusing opt-in/opt-out instructions.