Shoppers Willing to Tell All

It might surprise retailers, but a new IBM study reveals that consumers are much more willing to give up information about themselves.

The new survey, released Monday by IBM’s retail team, included results from 28,000 global consumers and perhaps some surprising findings about what shoppers are willing to disclose in the name of a more targeted and smarter shopping experience: 75 percent will dish to retailers about their preferred media usage; 73 percent will share demographic information; 61 percent would give up their name and age; 59 percent would describe their lifestyle; and 56 percent were willing to reveal their location.

Jill Puleri, vice president of global business services at IBM, says that the customer’s open attitudes mean that retailers who fret about sending too many messages to retailers are dead wrong.

“A majority said [the communications from desired retailers are] not frequent enough,” Puleri told Portfolio.com. “The consumers told us it isn’t targeted, it’s not in the right channel, it’s not targeted to me.”

It’s worth the time it takes for a retailer to find out whether a customer wants to be reached with offers via email, via text, or by direct mail. The 56 percent who said they didn’t mind sharing their information related to their location suggest that consumers wouldn’t mind having coupons and specials available to them via their smartphones or mobile devices that might better craft their in-store experience.

What’s more, many consumers are looking to social media and social networks to get information about what to buy, because doing so is “saving them time” and helping them coalesce around shopping communities of “we,” she says.

Through its social-media tool, IBM Cognos Consumer Insight, IBM recently reviewed some 1.2 million documents, including publicly available videos, tweets, Facebook updates, discussion boards, blogs, and news groups over a six-month period to study attitudes related to sporting retailers and apparel manufacturers.

The review was eye-opening, says Puleri. While she couldn’t name names, the executive says that one retailer, for example, would be surprised to learn that, say “46 percent of the conversations around their brand are around football.” It’s valuable information to know, since it gives rise to the question: What percentage of your store is around this merchandise type?

Many retailers are afraid to jump into the sea of social-media communication, Puleri says, especially because they are worried about people saying something negative about their stores.

At least if they do, a retailer can respond openly and in an ethical way, she says.

The last thing retailers should do is ignore what consumers are saying.

“Retailers need to start leveraging the consumer conversation and thinking about those consumer conversations as the new focus group,” Puleri says. “For 2012, making sense out of this vocal consumer is where the winners are going to start to capitalize, and now you’ve got to start leveraging this.”

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Teresa Novellino writes for Portfolio.com