What web trackers collect can make people uncomfortable
- Macy's, Lowes and Dell are among popular U.S. online retailerswith the most web trackers gathering personal information on visitors, while Walmart, Apple and Nike were among those with the fewest,data provided to ConsumerAffairs finds.
- Web trackerscollect personal information on people to build detailed profiles on individuals over time for advertising or sale to other businesses.
- People can stop the collection of their personal information by web trackers, including withad blockers and VPNs.
Some U.S. retailers are using a lot ofweb trackersto collect personal information and build detailed profiles on visitors.
Macy's had the most web trackers collecting information on online visitors, with 79 trackers, followed by AliExpress (52), Shein (51), Lowes (47) and LG (47)in the rest of the top five,according to data provided to ConsumerAffairs by ad blocker and privacy browserGhostery.
Ghostery's data focused on the biggest U.S. online retailers by web traffic and sales.
Web trackers, which can take the form of so-called cookies or pixels to store data, work quietly in the background to stitch together a detailed profile ofan individual,including collectingbrowsing habits across websites, ethnicity, location, political views, education level and other demographics.
"Typically, e-commerce sites house more trackers than others mainly to drive sales and advertising across platforms," Ghostery CEOJean-Paul Schmetz told ConsumerAffairs. "This insight, along with the various trackers on the site, allow retailers to retarget customers, or find them on other sites, and serve them with hyper-personal ads across numerous sites."
On the other hand, Walmart, Apple, Nike and Etsy only had two web trackers each, and Amazon and HP had three.
"Amazon has no third-party tracking because they intend to keep their customer data to themselves, as it is highly valuable, and can achieve their advertising needs through their own resources," Schmetz said.
Best Buy used the most web trackers for advertising with 90%, followed by Shein (84%), AliExpress (81%), Kroger (69%)and Dell (68%)in the rest of the top five, according to Ghostery.
A look at Macy's use of web trackers
Macy's, which had more trackers than any other big U.S. online retailer, used 67% of its web trackers for advertising purposes, according to Ghostery.
"Macys may use third party trackers to target users throughout the shopping experience as they search for products, add to cart, and if they abandon checkout," Schmetz said. "If you abandoned your cart, you may see an advertisement on a news site for the exact shoes you were considering along with a discount code to encourage your purchase."
When askedabout its web trackers, aMacy's spokesperson directed ConsumerAffairs to its privacy policy.
Macy's said it uses "data collection technologies," which includes web trackers, to automatically information that can include names, aliases, postal addresses, IP addresses,browsing history, search history and interacting with ads, among other information,according to its privacy policy.
Macy's said it may share information it collects with affiliates, service providers, business partners and data brokers.
"These third parties may also share your information with others and may include delivery of interest-based/targeted advertising," Macy's said.
Macy's also said that any personal information it sells will become the property of the buyer.
"In many cases, data collected through trackers is just as valuable, if not more valuable, than the products sold,"Marijus Briedis, chief technology officer at cybersecurity companyNordVPN, told ConsumerAffairs.
Privacy concerns from web trackers
The goal of web trackers to improve the shopping and general user experience may appearinnocent on its face, but the information gatheredcan be invasive, privacy experts tell ConsumerAffairs.
"Trackers can gather a surprising amount of detail about who you are and what you do online, far more than most people realize," Briedis said.
He said trackers from big technology companies, such as Google, YouTube, Microsoft andBing, gather some of the biggest volumes of detailed information.
"Some of the biggest trackers collect far more data than most people realize," Briedis said. "Youre not just being watched but analyzed, categorizedand influenced."
Web trackers can also aid scammers and cybercriminals: Nearly 94 billion cookies with personal information have leaked on the dark web, with the U.S. ranking 4th out of 253 countries with more than 3.6 billion, according to NordVPN.
"That could mean hundreds of millions of people around the world are potentially at risk of cybercrime," Briedis said.
How to stop web trackers
Privacy experts tell ConsumerAffairs there are a few ways people can protect their personal data from web trackers:
- Don't click "allow all": Websites ask whether to accept cookies or other tracking of your personal data.
- Ad blockers: Extensions on web browsers block ads and trackers.
- VPNs: Virtual private networks are tools, which can work as browser extensions, that can conceal your location, browsing history and files you download.
- Request to delete: Visitors from some states, such as California, can request businesses to have their personal information deleted.
Posted: 2025-06-09 17:21:50
