Target Consumer Behavior

The vast knowledge held behind the internet icon on the modern-day smartphone or tablet is a second home to all internet users across the United States of America. A typical internet user will frequent visits to Google to answer a quick question, chain-visit multiple different websites, and participate in virtually anything else done within the browser window. However, the common user may not be aware that they are not alone in their endeavors. For time untold, advertising companies have been following each individual around from site to site, attempting to further personalize their ads and tempt them to click on one. For every click given by an internet user, the company pulls in a certain amount of profit and this simple trick has been no

Companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter have had the ability to track its users for an extensive amount of time. Elise Torres, an author for the online news media source and cyber research expert TruthFinder, depicts the situation one man faced when Target followed his daughter’s online shopping. Concisely, the story begins with the father receiving mail addressed to his teenaged daughter from Target. Upon opening the letter, he was surprised to find coupons for baby products and promptly drove to Target to raise this matter. As Torres puts it, “[i]n this case, though, Target knew something the father didn’t: his daughter’s recent shopping habits painted the picture of a woman preparing to have a baby. And, as it turned out, Target was right” (Torres). This type of personalized advertisement has become a master strategy for all large companies. Using the same techniques used by all other money-hungry companies, Target provided a clear example of the extent any internet user may be

The next largest monitoring system in place is the use of cookies. A company may use a cookie or multiple cookies to track its online users; however, the largest profit can be made when they collaborate with an advertising business. Cookies supplied by a separate entity, otherwise known as a third party cookie, are planted in a user’s machine when a user visits a company’s cookie-enabled website. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), “the nation’s consumer protection agency… [that] works to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace,” (Federal Trade Commission) explains that “[o]ver time, these companies may develop a detailed history of the types of sites you frequent, and they may use this information to deliver ads tailored to your interests” (Federal Trade Commission). A tailored ad will most often feature a product an algorithm determines a user is interested in on any website loaded by the browser. This form of tracking has widely been debated in regard to the argument of privacy, as it supplies a service for the users, but does so at the cost of the privacy and browsing habits of unsuspecting internet