Almost half (51 per cent) of Australians are willing to share personal data in exchange for targeted promotions.
An independent study by Infosys showed consumers are willing to share email addresses (81 per cent) and postcodes (67 per cent) in exchange for more customised experiences or offers. Eighty-three per cent would be motivated to make repeat purchases if they received offers tailored to their interest. Meanwhile 78 per cent would make a repeat purchase if they received offers targeted to their location.
Unfortunately, retailers appear to be missing this digital opportunity. Most consumers admit current ads and promotions are not engaging, with ads received on mobile devices (77 per cent), online (74 per cent) and email (71 per cent) deemed the least relevant.
“Australians are clearly willing to trade some useful personal information with retailers if they can extract real value from it. When it comes to their personal data, there’s a line shoppers are willing to cross. Smart retailers must figure out how to persuade them to cross it to leverage the wave of opportunity that the online shopping revolution and big data present,” Sumit Madan, Infosys retail client manager, said.
Other findings of the research showed 68 per cent of retailers would shop with a retailer again based on social media interactions, whether with friends, family, fans, or with the retailer itself. But perhaps the difficulty of this is only 14 per cent are actually willing to share social media profile information. Also, less than a third (32 per cent) would share a date of birth, and only 9 per cent would divulge their income.
Australians are also the least likely shoppers to feel comfortable purchasing clothing, shoes or jewellery online with 57 per cent of Australians and only 45 per cent of Australian women aged 50-69, compared to an average of 70 per cent for shoppers in the US and Europe.
The global research polled 5,000 digitally savvy consumers in five countries (including 1,000 in Australia) about how they trade personal data in the retail, banking, and healthcare sectors.