Web Analytics and Online Retail: Ethical Perspective

Abstract

Currently, all major e-retailers and even the start-ups have incorporated web analytics services on their websites to monitor customer behaviour while extracting personal data. However, the web analytics data collection methods and the applications of such collected data have raised a lot of concerns regarding the ethical use of this data. The present work identifies some important ethical challenges and unethical practices that have cropped up with the usage of these techniques. The research also suggests the measures to reduce the volume and type of personal data that can be monitored by the websites/applications at the user level. It also elaborates on measures and requirements that need to be undertaken by the online retailers at the policy level to meet the country and industry standards, while keeping their practices ethical.