Privacy breach feared as big data trickle into retail industry   

連接商場wifi能收到優(yōu)惠信息 購物蹤跡卻會(huì)被定位

近日，位于蘇州工業(yè)園區(qū)的盈聯(lián)智能零售體驗(yàn)中心正式開放，這也是中國第一個(gè)智能零售大數(shù)據(jù)體驗(yàn)中心。只要連上商場wifi并在商場定位范圍內(nèi)，顧客信息數(shù)據(jù)就會(huì)被采集分析。這項(xiàng)技術(shù)可以記錄顧客在哪個(gè)區(qū)域停留時(shí)間最久，對什么產(chǎn)品感興趣，甚至可以知道購物傾向和能力。[查看全文]

(ECNS) – While big data analytics has already started a revolution among retail chains such as Macy's and Target in the US, stores in China are also embracing it to optimize their sales. But lawyers are warning of privacy concerns.

China's first shopping mall to employ big data, Yinglian Intelligence Retail Center in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, has been testing the tool and expects to officially start using it in August or September.

If shoppers inside the mall connect to its Wi-Fi and install its app or simply log in to their WeChat, China's most popular instant messaging application, data will be automatically collected, about where they stay the longest, what products they've browsed, their buying power and purchasing records.

With the data, retailers will be able to better understand customer-buying behavior and sharpen their promotions accordingly.

Meanwhile, shoppers will receive advertisements and promotions tailored to their needs. They can also make payments by scanning the QR codes, or get parking and other information.

The technology, developed by Yinglian Technology Co, traces customers using access point locators installed at the mall.

"With this technology, we want physical retailers to have big data as their virtual counterparts do," says the company's president Guan Zhiheng. "We hope they don't lose at the starting line."

Brick and mortar retailers are increasingly losing ground to online shops in the digital age. Customers use physical stores as a fitting room and buy what they want online. Online retailers like Amazon can easily display special offers and launch tailored advertisements with the data it collects. Therefore, physical stores have to look toward big data to help them stay relevant.

What follows is privacy concerns, as buyers' locations and other private information is made known to retailers and even other parties if the information is leaked.

Guan said the data will be available only to the company's high-level technicians, but also said whether they would compromise the information is beyond control.

Ni Zhihan, a lawyer at Jiangsu's Huawei Law Firm, says retailers should tell customers that they'll be traced when they connect their phones to the Wi-Fi.