Shop Watch

Shopping eh? [insert pithy quote about shopping here :-)]

Email Gathering

Stepping out into the real world, plenty of retailers want as much of your data as possible. They want to get closer to you and find out more about you. They’re not too bothered about how they acquire this information. A recent wheeze that’s been doing the rounds in Ireland is asking customers as they complete a purchase whether they would like a copy of their receipt emailed to them. Sounds helpful.

Location Gathering

Say you want out find out when a shop is open, or where it actually is. All straightforward enough information that you should be able to find on the web without too much trouble, right? Not without disclosing information about your whereabouts in may cases. Again, this comes in the guise of helpfulness – give us your location and we’ll use it to give you driving directions to our shop. That’s fine if you’re comfortable with giving your location to a shop, which it will doubtless retain for no particular reason. Here’s a quick scan of some large retailers in Ireland and their attempts at gathering location information in September 2016.

  • Supervalu.ie attempts to access location info in browser. Does not supply a list of stores with addresses and opening hours.
  • Centra.ie attempts to access location info in browser. Does not supply a list of stores with addresses and opening hours. User can zoom and drag country map with pins.
  • Lidl.ie doesn’t attempt to access location info in browser, but will not display store details without a user inputting their location. Asks for street level information. Does not supply a list of stores with addresses and opening hours.
  • Aldi.ie doesn’t attempt to access location info in browser, but will not display store details without a user inputting a location. Does not supply a list of stores with addresses and opening hours.
  • Dunnesstores.com doesn’t attempt to access location info in browser, but will not display store details without a user inputting a location. Asks for county level information. Does not supply a list of stores with addresses and opening hours.
  • Tesco.ie doesn’t attempt to access location info in browser, but will not display store details without a user inputting a location. Does not supply a list of stores with addresses and opening hours.
  • Spar.ie doesn’t attempt to access location info in browser. Shows a full country map with pins on store locator page and also offers option of inputting location details from dropdowns.
  • argos.ie supplies an alphabetical list of stores and does not require a user’s location information.
  • top.ie amusingly shows a map which resolves Irish county locations to the centre of the Pacific.
  • eu.topshop.com uses GeoIP to identify country. Shows an alphabetical list of stores. No map.
  • zara.com/ie/ has autoplaying noisy video on scroll. Will not display store details without a user inputting a location.
  • eason.ie displays a map with pins and an alphabetical by county list of stores in a dropdown. No demand for location information.
  • topaz.ie displays a map with pins and a dropdown of counties. Does not supply a list stores with addresses and opening hours.
  • boots.ie doesn’t attempt to access location info in browser, but will not display store details without a user inputting a location. Does not supply a list of stores with addresses and opening hours.
  • gap.eu has a map and an alphabetic list of stores across Europe.
  • primark.com has a map with pins and an incomplete list. Does not ask user to input any location information.
  • marksandspencer.ie has a list of store locations and an individual page for each store with location and opening hours. Doesn’t attempt to access location information in browser, does not ask for user location at any stage. Five stars.
  • debenhams.ie provides a list of stores, a map with pins and the ability to search by user location. Doesn’t attempt to access location information in browser, does not ask for user location at any stage. Five stars for options.
  • newlook.com doesn’t attempt to access location info in browser, but will not display store details without a user inputting a location. Does not supply a list of stores with addresses and opening hours.