????幾乎每個人都體會過一家公司對你錢包的挖掘深度超出你意愿時的那種被人侵犯的感覺。但新技術正在允許實體零售商以前所未有的方式入侵顧客的牛仔褲以搜尋個人信息。

????零售商現已掌握了追蹤顧客手機的能力，從而能夠以前所未有的方式獲取顧客的購物習慣：從一位顧客造訪一家店鋪的頻率，到他在一個櫥窗展示站多久后才決定是否要進入店鋪。

????這種數據也為商家提供了一個機會，借此與顧客攜手制定一套讓每個人都受益的規則。但企業似乎只滿足于盜取數據這一行為本身，這不僅對它們的聲譽造成了威脅，還會危及顧客的個人信息安全。

????《紐約時報》(New York Times)最近一篇文章報道稱，一些商店正在使用Wi-Fi網絡來跟蹤顧客，甚至當這些顧客并不在商店網絡覆蓋范圍的時候繼續監控。為這種窺探行為辯解的一個常見說辭是，人們應該想到他們會收到監視。

????上個月在黑帽(Black Hat)網絡安全會議遭受詰問后，國家安全局(NSA)局長基思?亞歷山大切身領悟到，這種信念毫無根據。高檔零售商諾德斯特龍公司(Nordstrom )在店內貼出告示，告知顧客他們正在被跟蹤之后，這家連鎖店也從不滿意的顧客那里獲得了這個訊息。正如《紐約時報》所報道的那樣，諾德斯特龍公司于五月份終止了它的跟蹤系統，部分原因是顧客對這種做法不滿。

????目前尚無可靠的資料顯示，究竟有多少家商店正在跟蹤顧客。但根據為Nomi和Euclid等零售商提供這些技術的公司的成長情況來判斷，從小咖啡館到全國連鎖店，這種行為廣泛存在于各類商家之中。

????但零售商正在以錯誤的方式從事這項工作。“這是下一代顧客終身價值管理體系，”賓夕法尼亞大學沃頓商學院(Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)市場營銷學教授、沃頓顧客行為分析中心(Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative)聯席主任埃里克?布萊特勞說?！皬念櫩偷慕嵌葋砜?，這樣做有許多積極面，比如量身定制的交易?！?/p>

????布萊特勞表示，從員工觀察顧客，到攝影機審視顧客對展覽商品的反應，監測客戶這種行為已經持續了數十年。但深入人們的口袋內提取信息還是一個新的前沿。

????布萊特勞主張零售商采取完全透明的跟蹤方式，同時認為這種戰略有助于加強顧客和商家之間的關系。畢竟，追蹤的目標就是采用顧客希望的方式為他們提供更多受其青睞的商品，從而改善購物體驗。通過讓客戶知道他們正在被跟蹤，同時提供一個簡單的退出方式，這些商家可以消除一種類似于斯諾登泄露事件帶來的嚴重后果的風險。

????不幸的是，企業獲取信息的便捷性和這類信息的價值使得透明度不可能成為普遍的做法。諾德斯特龍公司的經驗或許會成為一個警示，即零售商應該保持沉默，繼續偷偷摸摸地竊取信息。

????Just about everyone knows that feeling of violation when a company digs deeper into your pocket than you want, but new technology is allowing brick-and-mortar stores to invade their shoppers' Levis for personal information like never before.

????With the ability to track customer cell phones, retailers have unprecedented access to shoppers' habits, from how frequently a customer visits a store to how long he stands at a window display before deciding whether or not to enter the shop.

????Such data also offers an opportunity for merchants to work with their shoppers on writing a rulebook so that everyone can benefit, but businesses seem content with the five-finger discount, which poses a threat not only to their reputations, but also to the security of customers' personal information.

????A recent article in the New York Times revealed how stores can use Wi-Fi networks to track customers, even when those customers aren't on the store's network. A common argument to justify this prying is that, in an age of oversharing, people expect to be monitored.

????NSA director Keith Alexander learned just how unfounded this belief is after he was heckled last month at the Black Hat cyber security conference. Upscale retailer Nordstrom (JWN) also got the message from unhappy customers after the chain posted signs in its stores letting customers know that they were being tracked. As the Times reported, Nordstrom ended its tracking program in May, in part due to customer displeasure with the practice.

????There is no reliable information on how many stores are tracking customers, but based on the growth of companies that offer these technologies to retailers, like Nomi and Euclid, the practice is becoming widespread in all manner of business, from tiny coffee shops to national chains.

????Retailers are going about this the wrong way, though. "This is the next generation of customer lifetime value management," says Eric Bradlow, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the co-director of the Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative. "There's lots of positive from the customer perspective, such as tailored deals."

????Customer monitoring has been going on for decades, from employees watching people to cameras examining customer reactions to displays, Bradlow says. But delving into people's pockets to extract information is a new frontier.

????Bradlow advocates total transparency by retailers and believes that such a strategy can strengthen the relationship between the customer and the merchant. After all, the goal of tracking is to improve the shopping experience by providing customers with more of what they want in the ways that they want it. By letting customers know that they are being tracked, and offering a simple way to opt out, these businesses eliminate the risk of a backlash following a Snowden-style leak, or worse.

????Unfortunately, the ease with which companies can poach information and the value of that information make it unlikely that transparency will become common practice. Nordstrom's experience will probably serve as a cautionary tale that retailers should keep their mouths shut and keep stealing.