We already are aware of the fact that Google is continuously tracking all the moves you make when connected to the internet. But, with a new tool, Google will now be able to track your offline purchases as well and link them to your online activities.
Giving the advertisers a more detailed look at how their marketing strategy is working out, Google recently announced Google Attribution. This tool will analyse the purchases made in offline stores after clicking on an online ad. The advertisers will be benefitted by adding an entire market segment and have useful insights from there as well.
As CNN reports, this will be done in partnership with credit and debit card companies that will help link your offline purchases with your online identity. As per the report, the credit card companies will be sending encrypted information about the offline purchases to Google.
The information won’t include the name of the customer or what product they bought, giving Google and its partners a larger view at the purchase trends after clicking an ad online. The tool, however, wouldn’t be able to work for offline purchases.
All the Google partner contribute to 70 percent of all credit and debit card purchases in the United States. Google said that offline stores are visited by over 5 billion people worldwide and the people who click on search ads are 25 percent more likely to make a purchase offline.
This decision has obviously raised a lot of eyebrows for not respecting the privacy of an individual. Google has claimed that it is taking all the steps to protect the privacy of its users and the specific consumer data won’t be made available to the advertisers.