In-Store Tracking: Personalization Innovation or Privacy Invasion?

And even when consumers opt in through retailer apps, Chester doesn't think retailers are truly keeping their best interests in mind.

"The industry has done a great amount of research and it knows we see mobile devices as an extension of ourselves," he says. "Retailers take advantage of the fact that this clouds our decisions. Combine that with today's tough economic environment and the incentives that are often offered [to use these apps] and most consumers have no choice but to render to this sort of in-store tracking."