French luxury high-street retailers are collecting consumer data in similar ways to which data is collected on ecommerce sites. Executives from the French tech start-ups, Retail & Digital 2.0 and Retency, explained to The Financial Times that some high-end stores on the Champs-ÉlysĂ©es have begun to employ new data-collection technology. ClĂ©mence Dehaene, co-founder of Retail & Digital 2.0, has said that “brands want to break down the barriers between their digital and physical presence” and have integrated motion sensor technology on shop floors to track consumers' movements. The stores have also reportedly begun using technology that tracks which items have been looked at and picked up, and smartphone detection which can link online views to in-store visits by cross-referencing data. However, the new capabilities that these retailers now have has been criticised by some who fear that it could become an invasion of privacy, with George-Edouard Dias of QuantStreams saying that “privacy is a key aspect of the luxury business".Â
