Marketing Management, 16th Edition

Managing Customer Privacy

Almost every time consumers order products by mail or telephone, apply for a credit card, or take out a magazine subscription, their names, addresses, locations, and purchasing behaviors are captured and subsequently used by companies to market their offerings to these consumers. This naturally raises the concern that marketers may know too much about consumers’ lives, and that they may use this knowledge to unfair advantage.50

Many consumers are generally aware of cookies, profiles, and other online tools that let e-commerce businesses know who they are and when and how they shop, but they are nevertheless concerned by the extent to which companies gather information about them. One area of concern is that a company’s ...