Tracking on line customers splits reaction

Retailers track data on the browsing and buying of online visitors to target specific ads for a customer, which are far more effective than generic ads, studies show.

But is this an invasion of privacy?

On one hand, a survey of 1,000 customers conducted by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Pennsylvania found 70 percent of consumers objected to having retailers collect data on their shopping habits, USA Today reported Monday.

The National Retail Federation, on the other hand, said customer tracking was far down the list of concerns among online shoppers.

Only 0.1 percent of the respondents in a survey of 2,600 shoppers indicated privacy concerns were an issue that concerned them. These respondents indicated that the price of shipping was far a more critical concern with 23 percent indicating it was a issue.

Joseph Davis, chief executive officer of Coremetrics said the issue was "a double-edged sword."

"The more granular data you can get about the person, the more successful you (a retailer) will be, (but) some don't want the data to be used," he said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.