74% of Consumers Say Retailers Collect Too Much Personal Data

Quick Facts

Only 5% of consumers list retailers among the top three businesses they trust with their personal data.
70% of consumers would stop shopping with a brand that suffered a data breach, and the average breach now costs retailers $3.91 million.
26% of consumers abandoned a brand in the past year due to privacy concerns, up sharply as comfort with sharing data fell from 20% in 2022 to 8% in 2024.

Retailers have a data trust problem, and it is getting worse. Nearly three in four consumers say retailers collect too much personal data, according to new research from Retail Brew. Only 5% of shoppers rank retailers among the top three businesses they trust with their personal information.

The numbers behind that distrust are stark. The share of consumers comfortable sharing personal details with online vendors dropped from 20% in 2022 to just 8% in 2024, according to industry surveys. Twenty-nine percent have walked away from retailers that demanded excessive personal information.

Data breaches accelerate the damage. More than half of consumers say brands hit with a breach are untrustworthy, and 70% would stop shopping there entirely. IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report put the average cost for retailers at $3.91 million, an 18% year-over-year increase.

Part of the problem is structural. Sixty-two percent of retailers run more than 50 information systems holding consumer data, from spreadsheets to point-of-sale platforms. That fragmentation creates more exposure. The 2025 TrustArc Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey ranked the retail sector 12th out of all industries on its Global Privacy Index.

Deloitte’s U.S. Consumer Data Privacy study found that only 32% of retailer respondents qualify as privacy leaders, meaning those who have integrated data protection into corporate strategy. Twenty-seven percent are laggards with no meaningful privacy prioritization. Seventy-five percent of retailers believe regulations will have a moderate to significant impact on their business, yet only 22% have fully integrated a data privacy plan with broader business strategy.

The Personalization Trap

Retailers face a direct conflict between personalization and privacy. Brands that use personalization strategies report conversion rates up to 40% higher, according to industry data. But those strategies require collecting, storing, and analyzing the exact data consumers distrust retailers to hold.

An Adobe study found 44% of consumers feel frustrated when brands skip personalization, while 70% are uneasy about how that same data gets collected and used. Retailers are caught between two consumer demands that pull in opposite directions.

Salesforce research across more than 7,000 consumers shows a path forward. Fifty-seven percent of consumers will share personal data for personalized offers or discounts. Fifty-two percent will share for product recommendations. The exchange works when consumers feel in control and understand the terms.

Transparency is the lever. According to Statista, 66% of consumers would trust brands more if companies were upfront about why they collect data. Fifty-five percent would be more trusting if brands only collected what is necessary. Eighty-four percent want brands to be open about what they collect and how they plan to use it.

AI Adds a New Layer of Concern

Artificial intelligence is compounding the problem. A 2025 Consumer Trust Survey from Relyance AI found 82% of respondents view AI-driven data loss as a serious personal threat. Eighty-one percent suspect companies are already using their personal data for undisclosed AI training.

For operators, the business case for privacy investment is straightforward. Consumers who distrust a brand stop buying. Those who trust it spend more and share willingly. Retailers that treat privacy as a cost center rather than a growth driver are losing customers to competitors who have figured out the difference.