Even if you shop online you are being watched. Furthermore, new technology is being rolled out in Australian shops to find out your shopping habits. This does not just include purchasing. The way you examine goods will also be recorded and analysed. The other day I was in Coles supermarket. I examined a product and put it back on the shelf. Then I continued into the fresh vegetable section. I was accosted there by a shop assistance who said I must purchase the product because I had lifted the wrapping on the corner. It was captured on camera. This was a bit of a shock I must say.
Westfield shopping centers are leading the charge with 21 malls now using the new data collection technology. You will be bombarded with advertising on the walls of shops and on your mobiles based on the data as you walk through. The cost you pay is high. You cannot turn the vision or sound off.
Plans are afoot to find out what you buy and what you pay. This is all being done under the premise that we "will provide them (customers) with a far more personalised shopping experience. Funny, we didn't ask for this and we do not want it. Shops are the driving force: "businesses are rushing to gather data and learn how to interpret it." Sell, sell, sell! Ain't that the truth?
✴ Technology by Ty Buchanan ✴
