Amazon said it is introducing a brand new physical retail shop analytics service that would give businesses information about how well their goods, special offers, and advertising campaigns are performing.
In the United States’ Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores that employ Just Walk Out and Dash Cart technology, companies may now access anonymous insights on their items through the new tool called ‘Store Analytics’.
In simple terms, similar to data collecting on e-commerce websites, Store Analytics will provide marketers information on consumer interests which will then help them make informed decisions about ad campaigns and promotions.
Additionally, brands will get access to anonymised data about the selection and ranking of their items and performance indicators for in-store promotions like digital signage will also be provided by the service.
“These data-driven Store Analytics insights allow brands to better understand the path to purchase for their products, helping them to evolve and refine their assortment, merchandising, and advertising over time,” noted Amazon in a blog post.
Privacy
Werner Vogels, Amazon’s chief technical officer, reportedly stated almost two decades ago that the corporation aims to gather as much information as possible so that it may make recommendations to consumers. Additionally, a former Amazon executive told the BBC in 2020, “They happen to sell products, but they are a data company”.
Given its history, there are concerns about the data collection process and use of such information. But the company has explained what data will be shared with the brands.
According to Amazon: “The data is presented to brands as a grouping that does not include any personal information about shoppers, and is aggregated and anonymized.”
“We follow Amazon’s long-standing privacy and security policies and approaches. Store Analytics data is stored in a secure zone in the cloud. We always anonymize and aggregate the data before providing it to brands who receive the service,” it further stated.
While explaining data privacy, Amazon said it has given a lot of thought to how it can make this service valuable for companies while continuing to respect customers’ privacy because “we know that shoppers care about how their information is used and shared”.
Amazon claimed that it treats any sensitive data with care and in accordance with the long-standing rules since it takes the privacy issues “seriously”.
“We do not share customers’ personal information with brands but instead provide only anonymous, aggregated data on product and in-store ad campaign performance. Shoppers can opt-out of sharing this data with Store Analytics at any time,” the company noted in the blog post.
Additionally, the American giant stated that they will be not “sharing any video or images of shoppers with brands as part of this service, rather only aggregated and anonymized insights about the performance of their products, promotions, and ad campaigns”.
However, the company said that customers who choose not to participate can still utilise Amazon Dash Carts and Just Walk Out technology at Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores.
While explaining the process, the company noted that customers can choose not to share their data with Store Analytics by visiting the website and following the straightforward opt-out steps.
- Go to the “submit your preference” section.
- Select “do not include my shopping data in Store Analytics”.
- Press the “submit” button.
Customers can access “Your Account” on the Amazon Shopping App or on Amazon.com on their mobile browser, or go directly to the Store Analytics website and follow the same procedures.
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