Reality free services of tech giants: The Consumer Data

“Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.”- Steve Jobs

The corporate world has become so competitive that the market leaders yesterday, vanish from the market today. These companies are in a tooth and nail battle with razor-thin profit margins to gain their supremacy.

However, few companies enjoy their dominance and profitability, which we can’t comprehend. They are neither in fierce battle nor dwindling profit margin. The code of blue ocean strategy is with them. The consumer has adopted them so dearly to their intoxication.

We can’t deny our inseparable bond with a few of those companies like Facebook and Google. These companies have mastered their algorithm to hook and generate a profit from users’ dopamine rush.

With so many users, these companies have billions of data related to them which gives them a God-like superpower to predict every user’s steps.

Your every activity on the web is a crucial part of these companies. In the modern digital economy, every activity has a price tag. It can be collected, stored and sometimes sold in the open market through data brokers such as Oracle and Epsilon.

Data Collection

The data collection has played a pivotal role for major tech giants to get insights into their users and monitor their behaviour. The tech giants like Google and Amazon have their data storage facilities while smaller companies use third-party storage facilities.

Users’ Data

The approaches by the companies to gather consumer data are derived from the nature of the data they want to acquire. Basically, there are 4 categories of data, companies gather from the consumers:-

1. Consumer Personal Data

Any information about the consumer which gives their identification is termed Personal Data. It can be a simple identification form such as name, gender and date of birth as well as a complex form relating to IP address.

2. Engagement Data

It is data that gives an insight into the companies regarding consumers’ interaction with them. The consumer may use a chatbot on the website to reach the customer services or email to resolve their order issues. These things are stored in the company database.

3. Behavioural Data

Data related to transaction details and the consuming behaviour of products are categorized into behavioural data. Through access to millions of whilst and order details of consumers, these tech giants are precisely predictive of consumers’ next purchase.

4. Attitudinal Data

The data deals with the psychological aspects of consumers such as feedback on recently purchased products. This type of data helps the companies to monitor and keep track of their product satisfaction level.

Why company collect data?

The purpose of data collection is for consumer satisfaction. The company understands the requirement and demands of its consumers. With newly acquired consumer data, the company get acuities of new product designs and strategies for long-term goals. Companies decide the future expansion and marketing strategies based on consumer data.

The downside of collected Data

However, some experts believe that these companies are crossing the border of legal use. The vast data owned by these companies are like a gold mine. They argue that companies are converting these data into cash flow by selling it in both dark and open markets. Thus breaching consumer privacy. With such pinpoint accuracy of consumer behaviour of data sold in the open market, the consumers are susceptible to manipulation. What can be more treacherous than giving such tremendous control to a company over what a person decides in mundane activities?

Tackle the fate

So far, there is no universal law against a company’s data collection norms. These firms’ so-called free services are edging these loopholes. It is time to put checks and balances on these companies with the standard legal grounds.