When you shop online you probably think mainly about what you are buying, how much it costs and when it will arrive. But behind every online purchase is a lot of customer information that helps the store process your order and provide its services.
It’s all about the data. Different types of online store data can be collected at different points in the customer journey, from your name and delivery address to your payment details and shopping preferences.
It is important for both businesses and customers to know what customer information online stores collect, why they collect it, and how it is managed.
What Customer Information Do Online Stores Collect?
An online store can gather a lot of data about its customers. The specific information depends on the website, products, services and features being used.
Some of the common examples are:
- Name and Contact Information
- E-mail address and phone number
- Billing & Delivery Addresses
- Login information for an account
- Purchase & order history
- Payment information
- Customer support chat
- Product Reviews & Comments
- Shopping preferences information
- Device and website use information
Not all stores collect all of this information and some information may only be collected when it is necessary for a particular service.
Why Do Online Stores Collect Customer Information?
We don’t pull customer data for data’s sake.
Stores require some information to perform routine activities such as processing orders, delivering products, processing returns, responding to customers and managing customer accounts.
One example is a delivery address which is required to send an order whereas an email address can be used to provide an order confirmation or shipping update.
Businesses can also use information to learn about consumer tastes, improve their website, personalise experiences, or communicate with customers about products and services.
The main thing is to know what is being collected, and why it is needed.
What Payment Information Do Online Stores Handle?
Online shopping itself is financial information.
Depending on the payment processing by a store, it may process information like transaction details, billing information, payment status or other payment related records.
Many online stores rely on third party payment providers, rather than holding full payment card details themselves.
But payment information can be sensitive, too. Businesses need to know where this information is, what systems are processing it, and what third parties may have access to it.
This is one reason why understanding the data environment of the organization is critical.
How Do Online Stores Collect Customer Information?
I think there are many different sources for customer info.
A customer can provide information directly when:
- Sign up for an account
- Command
- Subscribe to the newsletter
- Contact Support
- Write a review
- Ask for a Return or Refund
- Complete a survey
Information can be automatically generated through website activity, applications, cookies, devices and other technologies.
This means that a customer’s information for an online store could reside in multiple databases or applications. It is scalable across multiple systems.
Where Is Customer Information Stored?
And one of the hardest things for growing online businesses is that customer data can end up in all sorts of places.
For example, information can be found in:
- E-commerce sites
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System
- Payment gateways
- Cloud storage…
- E-mail systems
- Software for customer support
- Marketing channels
- Databases
- Excel sheets.
- Back-up
With growth comes more tools, employees, vendors and customers, which can make tracking this information increasingly difficult.
This is where data visibility comes into play. Companies need to know exactly what data they have and where it is.
Why Is Customer Data Privacy Important for Online Stores?
A company may possess individuals’ personal data and financial records, therefore putting privacy as a major concern for companies engaged in doing business on the Internet.
Customers anticipate businesses to follow strict procedures regarding the use of their information. Different privacy considerations should be taken into account, depending on the location of the company and information it collects.
The consequences of limited visibility are very serious.
For example, if a company cannot locate its own customers’ data, stored in a legacy database or shared file of employees, it can make it virtually impossible to study and classify the information and to make decisions, whether to keep or destroy it.
How Can Hackers Misuse Customer Information?
Exposed or wrongly accessed customer information can be critical for hackers and scammers, as even simple information can serve as the basis for an online scam.
The information gained from customers can be misused in several ways, as follows:
- Identity fraud – Customer information is used to impersonate individuals.
- Phishing scams – Scammers can create messages of the customers by utilizing their information.
- Financial fraud – Payment or transaction-related customer information can be misused to perform fraud.
- Account takeover – Gaining access to customer accounts by utilizing stolen user ID and/ or password.
- Targeted scam – Implementing fake scams using the client’s shopping
- information.
When customer information is kept in different databases, spreadsheets, applications, backups, and third-party systems, it is impossible for companies to know exactly what data is in their possession.
Why Data Classification Matters for Customer Information
There are varying degrees of sensitivity in customer information.
While a customer’s name may be treated differently than credit card numbers, identification information, or any other sensitive information, data classification helps organizations categorize information based on its nature and sensitivity.
In the case of an internet retailer, classification can help firms know what the sensitive data is and where it is stored.
The combination of classification and sensitive data discovery can provide firms with a better understanding of what sensitive information it has instead of regarding all data the same way.
What Happens to Customer Information After a Purchase?
The journey of the customers may never come to a complete end when the order is delivered.
The information concerning a particular buy may be stored within a company’s working systems.
Some information might be kept because of some company’s operative or legal matters and the other information must no longer be preserved after a certain period of time.
This is why the problem of data keeping is very important for online shops.
It is important for the businesses to know what information they keep, why they keep it, and for how long they should store it.
How Can Online Stores Better Manage Customer Information?
In managing customer data, it is vital to achieve visibility.
An online shop must know:
- Which personal data is collected
- What purposes drive the collection of this data
- Where the data is stored
- Which systems and vendors deal with this data
- What kind of data needs to be classified as sensitive and secure
- How long every type of data will be stored
Ongoing data discovery allows organizations to determine what data they have and where it resides. The classification that follows lets companies define the type of information and its vulnerability degree afterward.
EzSecure and similar solutions enable organizations to classify the sensitive data they discover through ongoing discovery.
Final Thoughts
The collection of customer information is an essential requirement for online stores as it is crucial for their smooth functioning. It’s important for orders to be processed, products to be sent to different destinations, customers to receive adequate assistance, and businesses to keep up with their functioning.
The challenge starts when customer information is scattered among various systems and becomes complicated to manage.
For online businesses, managing customer information is more than just collecting information. What is necessary, however, is to have the insight of what information is available, how sensitive it is, where it is stored, and how to handle it wisely.
Better visibility gives businesses a solid basis for data protection, classification, retention, and compliance, which, in its turn, helps them win trust among their clients.
