Last weekend, I was walking around Berkeley with my partner, when she asked if we could pop into the Warby Parker store to look at glasses. I said sure. I mostly stood in a corner looking at my phone while she tried on some frames. Then we left.
Later that evening, I received this email:
I was shocked to see this. How did Warby Parker know I was there? And was this form of tracking legal?
I have never been in a Warby Parker retail store before. I certainly didn’t explicitly give any identifying information. I’m sure I’ve been on their website before, but I have never signed up for their newsletter, nor created an account. I know there are ways to surmise your email address via the web by cross-referencing cookies with opt-in marketing data. I also know that it’s possible for physical stores to passively track your mobile phone. So I can guess how this all might have happened technically. But I’m surprised that a well-known brand like Warby Parker is engaging in such sketchy practices.
I poked around the Internet to see if I could find other documented instances of this at Warby Parker or any other retail store, but I couldn’t really find anything. If you know of anything like this, I’d love to hear more.