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1st Student's Major

Marketing and International Business

1st Student's College

Business

Students' Professional Biography

Brett Fleck is a freshman student majoring in Finance and Economics at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He is a recipient of the Presidential Scholarship from MSU and has recently been elected to the student senate on campus. He graduated with honors in 2005 from New Ulm High School in New Ulm, Minnesota. Brett is currently pursuing career options in economics, investment analysis and bank management. Accompanying researchers Tyler Goodmanson and Emily Johnson also attend MSU and are sophomores majoring in marketing.

Mentor's Name

Vicki Luoma

Mentor's Email Address

vicki.luoma@mnsu.edu

Mentor's Department

Accounting and Business Law

Mentor's College

Business

Abstract

The most modern form of gathering marketing information is not as new as many people believe. The trepidation of Big Brother’s cameras watching down on us puts a chill down most peoples’ backs. In numerous mall stores, cameras are located in each store and are examining you. Most believe that the cameras are positioned for the purpose of shoplifting and crime, but the truth is many are also used for the purpose of marketing. Video mining as it is known has emerged as the latest method of conducting market research. The stores that are participating in this study are diligently watching an assortment of things. Marketing analysts watch what a customer has picked up, what they have looked at, the amount purchased, colors that attract them, their facial expressions, and many other forms of movement. This information is gathered and recorded, then shot across the nation via computer to a company such as Shopper Trak that views and analyzes clips of customers shopping. Shopper Trak presently has 40,000 cameras in various stores across the nation. Most customers have little knowledge of this marketing tactic or that there are no laws prohibiting this action. Do stores and business’s have an ethical duty to reveal their practices to their customers? Is it legal for them to use the personal information or preferences of their customers to exploit them without their knowledge or consent? Finally, where is the line drawn on what is considered personal, private information?

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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Marketing Commons

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