FTC Takes Action Against Retail Tracking Start-Up Nomi Technologies

On Thursday, April 23, the FTC settled deception charges against start-up Nomi Technologies, Inc. related to Nomi's in-store, sensor-based, tracking technology.¹ This is the first FTC enforcement action against emerging retail store–based tracking technologies.

Nomi's Data Collection and Privacy Practices

Launched in 2013, Nomi's Listen technology is an analytics platform retailers can deploy in their stores, or via their mobile applications, to assess their customers' behavior. Listen uses store-based sensors to track retail customers' in-store movements. These sensors detect mobile devices' media access control (MAC) address — unique device identifiers — as customers move through a store. Nomi combines the collected MAC address data with other aggregated data elements into reports for retailers using the Listen platform. These reports give retailers insights into the percentage of customers passing by the store versus entering the store, the average length of