Consumers Willing to Share Shopping Data with Brands Online

About seven in 10 (71%) of global consumers are willing to share their personal shopping data with brands online, according to new research from McCann Worldgroup released in October 2011. Data from “The Truth About Privacy” indicates that 5 times as many consumers will share their shopping data than will share their financial data online (14%).

According to McCann insight, this reflects the sensitivity of financial information to a consumer’s sense of security. Roughly double the number of consumers (27%) will share medical data than will share financial data, while almost triple (39%) will share personal data. About half (49%) will share location data with a brand online.

Privacy Goes Both Ways

According to the report, slightly more than half of consumers (57%) believe that businesses and brands have a right to privacy, far less than the 84% who believe that consumers retain that right. In fact, of the categories surveyed, consumers ranked businesses’ privacy rights ahead of only governments’ (51%). Indeed, more consumers (65%) believe that a reality TV star has a right to privacy than a business.

Financial Institutions Most Trusted

Globally, banks and credit companies are the most trusted to look after personal data and use it wisely. Almost 7 in 10 (69%) consumers trust banks with their information (65% of US respondents), while 57% hold credit companies in the same regard (46% of US respondents). Medical companies are the next most trusted, followed by pharmaceutical companies and health insurance companies. Consumers show the least amount of trust in beauty companies and dating websites.

Exact Data Usage Important to US Consumers

Close to six in 10 (57%) of US respondents say it is important to know exactly how their data is going to be used, selecting this as one of their to 3 important criteria when deciding to trust a brand. Closely following is a commitment from companies that they won’t pass personal data (ie. their telephone numberor email address), chosen by 56% of US respondents as a critically important criterion. 55% of US consumers want control over which data will be shared, while 30% want to know how they will benefit.

LoyaltyOne: Consumers Unsure about Sharing Personal Data

US and Canadian consumers display high degree of uncertainty about sharing their personal data with companies, according to an October 2011 survey from LoyaltyOne. Almost nine in 10 (88%) consumers say they feel companies are primarily collecting personal information for their own benefit, and 85% are often concerned about how much of their personal information is held by others.

About the Data: The report is based on a 6,525-person quantitative study conducted in the US, UK, Hong Kong, Japan, India, and Chile.