Is Surveillance Of Consumers Is Manipulative Or Unethical?

| |When a customer enters a retail outlet they will expect to be able to purchase|

Thesis: Although some claim that retail anthropologists’ placement of surveillance cameras for consumers while shopping is manipulative, it is not in fact unethical because their actions are meant for the benefit of the consumers, the benefit of the producers, and most importantly, shoppers are aware of the surveillance cameras.

When a consumer walks into a store they know what products they want to buy,

Would you like to have someone snatch an item from your store?Tracking customers are becoming more and more popular for stores in the United States. Currently, retailers are using cameras and smartphones to learn about their customers’ shopping experience and tendencies. Critics may argue that spying on customers is creepy, but it prevents shoplifting and gets customers good deals and coupons.

In Malcom Gladwell’s “The Science of Shopping” (Maasik, p93), Gladwell explains how the retail industry has examined consumers and shoppers and manipulated their entire retail experience. Gladwell goes on to explain that it is unethical and consumers are unknowingly being observed. I strongly refute Gladwell’s claim, stating that the surveillance of consumers by retail anthropologists is manipulative and unethical. The surveillance of consumers has been very beneficial to pinpoint the customer needs, and also to improve the shopping experience by making it more enjoyable and less time consuming.

Unauthorized surveillance is a violation of privacy. Corporations insist that the use of video monitoring is strictly documented for legal purposes. What many companies fail to do is give handouts that clearly inform their employees and customers that such methods are being practiced and most don't even attempt to inform them. Some retail stores place security cameras in dressing rooms, monitor emails and even inspect online activity. Upon learning of these procedures, employees may feel violated, and customers may become nervous and uncomfortable. Word of these tactics can spread and prove detrimental to the organization. To avoid this,

Do you feel like your privacy is safe in stores?Well, cameras located in stores are able to acquire an abundant amount of information on its customers just by capturing their image on camera. This is absolutely an invasion of privacy, and that’s why most people feel that cameras should not be placed in stores and invade their privacy.To begin with, your mug shot can be leaked, and everyone will know your identity, it is a violation of privacy and cameras are expensive and difficult to manage. Therefore, cameras should not be used in stores.

Consumers greatly benefit from the studying of their shopping behaviors by retail anthropologists. Imagine a man named Dan, walks into a store with a few set items to buy in mind. Dan is determined to go in and buy those items. A few weeks prior the store had been examined to improve on providing what their customers want. Dan just so happens to be a frequent shopper at the store so his metadata influenced how store layout and placement of items. Normally, Dan would go to get what he wants and get distracted along the way but thanks to the improved layout and consideration for the shoppers needs in mind, Dan was finally able to quickly get what he wants and leave the store. Dan directly benefitted from having retail anthropologists use his data. Data taken from the YouTube video, “How stores track your shopping behavior” shows that with 2 shelf facing it takes 3.3 seconds to locate Post Bran Flakes, as opposed to 2.3 seconds with 4 shelf facing. Not only does Dan benefit from the consumer surveillance but so do all consumers. Now, let’s say another shopper named Lisa goes to the same store as Dan. Lisa hates the store because of their narrow walkways and being bombarded by things as she enter. Just as with Dan, she is subjected to surveillance to see how shoppers behave in that store. The

To truly understand the consumer’s needs one must listen to what the consumer wants and desires, it takes very little effort on the part of Company Q to understand the needs of its consumers. The effort we make can be the difference between a store’s success and a store going bankrupt. Insuring that Company Q's stores standout amongst its competitors in the marketplace will help give Company Q a competitive edge.

Retail anthropology is another word for spying. It was never designed to improve the customer's shopping experience or teach us how to better serve people. Companies like Envirosell and Videomining have one idea in mind; find out the behaviors of shoppers and use the data to manipulate their shopping environment. The use of surveillance cameras is an invasion of privacy, people are being watched not only in stores, but on the devices they use. Using these tactics are unethical because once introduced, the practice of spying for profit has become standard. Retail anthropology, as it's called, is harmful to society because it feeds into capitalism and worsens a system that is already failing. Retail anthropology

Modern retail stores have to use a variety of techniques in order to lure and keep customers inside their stores. Without paying customers there is no retail store. This shows the importance of the consumer and how much influence they have over modern retail companies. These Fortune 500 companies pay top dollar to know how they can maximize product sales in every way possible. In The Science of Shopping Malcolm Gladwell interviews Paco Underhill, a retail anthropologist who's sole purpose is to study consumers' shopping habits and to determine the best store design for maximum profit. Over the years Paco has noticed various human tendencies that, if used properly, will increase a retail stores sales. Tendencies like: the Invariant right, Petting, and the Decompression Zone. I visited a local Walmart looking for evidence of Pacos work and recorded my findings.

Hi Danae, I think the examples you choose were very strong to support your argument that surveillance of consumers by retail anthropologists is not manipulative and unethical. However, I think you should add some details to these arguments, especially your first one. You should definitely mention how the surveillance of consumers allows retailers to improve constomer interaction, but as well as provide a real life example with statistics from another source in addition to the video. I think that your thesis is very strong in explaining the overall points you are trying to make. I can clearly see the points you are trying to make, you argue that surveillance of consumers helps retailers how to increase customer interaction, satisfaction, and

Stores use these surveillance cameras to see what the shoppers look at, what they like, and how they react to things, and all of those sort of reasons. You know those super cute jeans you wanted from Aeropostale? Well they are so expensive and the camera’s will see you put them back down and you might get a 20% off coupon on your phone just like that. Bam now you can get those jeans for much cheaper and you can look cute. Not only it saves you money, but the store might come out with more clothes similar to the ones you bought, so now you can have more clothes for cheap! As you can see it’s a win-win situation for you, and you look stylish. That’s a perfect way to save

How often do people go into a store knowing they are being watched and recorded? Well, most people are being watched by the surveillance of consumers by retail anthropologists to ensure you buy more and continue to shop. Retail anthropologists track customers through separate cameras, tracking systems that sometimes incorporate the loss prevention cameras, loyalty cards, and surveys and they use this information to increase their business. These tracking systems are not the same as the theft prevention surveillance, but many people are unaware of retail anthropologists watch them. Many people believe that these retail anthropologist’s surveillance is not unethical nor manipulative; however, it helps better customer satisfaction, helps improve business performance sales, and helps improve store efficiency for consumers.

Consumer decision-making is needs-based. Consequently, the process of understanding consumers does not so much rest on identifying the behavioural patterns of a group and then choosing to pitch a product to them, but rather on identifying the specific need which is common to certain people and accordingly striving to satisfy that need (Brady, 2010).