Sherry Natoli is followed everywhere she goes while shopping online, but she doesn’t mind at all.
Natoli, who owns a seashell business in Tampa, does all but her grocery shopping on the Internet and even opts in whenever she’s asked whether she’s willing to have her online movements tracked by Web sites.
Companies have been monitoring our online behavior for almost as long as there’s been an Internet, often using our online footsteps (cookies) whenever we search, browse or buy online. Tracking technology has advanced so much that everything from how long we linger over a product description to whether we are searching for sexual-dysfunction drugs can be collected and stored on individual profiles. Our profiles are numeric descriptions, not our real names, but in some cases, it’s not hard to determine personal information behind the numbers.
Privacy concerns abound, and several privacy and consumer groups are urging Congress to enact laws on what can and can’t be collected and for how long.
But the tracking continues in earnest, in few places more avidly than among retailers. With the approach of a holiday season that even the most hopeful of industry analysts think will see only a 1 percent sales increase, retailers are increasingly turning to the Web for answers — and sales. Even retailers beating the odds, such as thriving teen retailer Aeropostale, find their online growth far surpasses that in their brick-and-mortar stores.
Aeropostale has been among the few chains to post monthly sales increases, typically less than 15 percent, but online-only sales were up 85 percent last year.
Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren said recently that for every dollar its customers spend online, they spend an additional $5.77 in its Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores. Online sales made up only 6 percent of all retail commerce last year, but store operators believe that if their…