RetailNext Privacy Resources: Product Capabilities

RetailNext offers a set of products and services (the RetailNext “platform”) used by retailers to analyze things that happen in and around their stores. Our customers may use our products and services to collect data from sensors, including video cameras, smartphone detectors, Wi-Fi networks, or other devices, to use along with other data, like purchases, loyalty program information, weather, and third-party information. We also provide ways to let our customers’ shoppers opt into analytics and marketing programs, like through free Wi-Fi networks or mobile apps.

This document provides more details about how those products and services work.

Our customers can choose to operate our platform entirely on their own, or they may choose to let us operate the software on their behalf as an online service. To understand what our customers do with the data they receive from us or collect directly, please consult their privacy policies directly.

Our customers can elect to share some elements of their data with RetailNext so that we may use it in aggregate to analyze retail traffic and sales trends. For example, we periodically report on retail performance trends: https://retailnext.net/resources?type=dataTrend.

What Our Customers Can Collect

Our platform supports the analysis of several different data sources. This document focuses on the data that’s generally gathered during a visit to a retail store, but each of our customers may use the platform in a different way and include data from many different sources. For example, our customers may correlate the data discussed in this document with their sales, staffing, or loyalty program data.

Smartphone Location Detection. RetailNext determines the location of a smartphone or wireless computing device by observing Wi-Fi signals broadcast from that device. Individual devices are identified by a unique number (called a “MAC address”) assigned to the device when it was manufactured. RetailNext logs the MAC address (or a pseudonymized version of it, which is the default) of these broadcasts along with the time, the signal strength, and the location of the observing sensor. RetailNext does not store the payload of wireless network packets (meaning the data that end users are sending or receiving over a Wi-Fi network). Unless you explicitly opt into a related service from one of our customers, it is our policy never to use this data to identify a person by name. It is used to measure things like visit duration or the ratio of first-time to returning shoppers.

Video Recording and Analytics. RetailNext analyzes live video from cameras to determine the paths people take through a physical space and to try to ascertain certain qualities about people, like age or gender. Our customers may use this kind of information for marketing and strategic purposes, such as to improve the layout of their stores and offer the products that most interest their shoppers. For other examples, please visit our website at http://retailnext.net. Video can be recorded and is usually available for playback by the customer in the RetailNext platform. In addition to analyzing traffic flow through a store or around a particular feature of a store, video is often used to investigate theft. Additional uses of video are determined by the customer.

Who We Share With

Our customers have access to most of the data we collect on their behalf. Their use of the data is governed by their privacy policies and practices.

We also contract with third-party service providers, such as virtual hosting infrastructure providers, to host our servers and databases and to provide other services to us. It is our policy to request that our service providers agree not to access or use any information or data they may have access to while providing services to RetailNext other than as specified by us and for the purpose for which it was originally collected.

Storage of this data is not always in your home country and may be transported across borders. As of the date of writing this, we primarily store data in the United States in addition to the country in which it is collected, but we may add additional storage and processing sites without notice.

Through our platform and standard contractual agreements, it is our policy to place limits on the use of smartphone location data if a user has not explicitly opted into a related service (like a free Wi-Fi network). Unless a user has opted in, it is our policy not to share the actual MAC address of a device except as described in the “Government Requests” section in our privacy policy. It is also our policy to require customers to agree not to use this data to attempt to identify people without their permission.

Security

Once data is received by RetailNext’s online service from our customers’ sensors, it is our policy to encrypt it as it passes between our internal services, and to encrypt it when it is at rest. We take steps, like employing firewalls and two-factor authentication, to safeguard sensitive data and prevent unauthorized access to it.

When our customers operate our platform on their own, they are responsible for maintaining the security and privacy of the data.

Data Retention

In our hosted systems, customers may retain aggregated data indefinitely, but it is our policy to limit the retention of personal data to 2.5 years, and we allow customers to set a shorter limit. Retention of data that customers may export and store outside our hosted systems is governed by their privacy policies and practices.

Opting Out of Some Data Collection

You may opt out of data processing by RetailNext for some portions of the service, like Smartphone Location Detection, by using our online form at https://privacy.retailnext.net/ or by submitting a request to the contact info in our privacy policy.

When you opt out, we will take measures to delete historical data about your device and avoid collecting data about your device in the future.