Visitors to the furniture retailer’s website and mobile app will reportedly be given the option to toggle between “private sessions,” in which personal data such as browsing history, previous purchases and product preferences are not used to inform product recommendations. They will also be able to dictate how long Ikea can keep their data and to delete all data from the company’s records if they choose.
The controls will be available throughout the digital shopping experience and in a centralized control panel. Ikea will begin rolling out the features in the U.S., France, the Netherlands, the U.K., Ireland, Spain and Sweden by the end of April.
The move sets Ikea apart not only from other retailers — many of whom have implemented confusing or difficult-to-access attempts at improving data transparency, WSJ notes — but also from organizations across all industries with operations that rely on consumer data, such as healthcare providers.
Though the actual impact of the new tools remains to be seen, offering a clear-cut method for opting in or out of data sharing, or even simply adding more explicit descriptions of how data is used, are all but guaranteed to boost consumer trust and satisfaction.
“We are doing this because we believe it’s the right thing to do and we believe it makes business sense to respect people’s data,” Barbara Martin Coppola, chief digital officer at Ingka Group, the largest Ikea franchisee and operator, told WSJ. “We’re actually having a dialogue with them to serve them better.”
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