This is a subscriber-only article. Join Entrepreneur+ today for access

Learn More

Already have an account?

Sign in
Entrepreneur Plus - Short White
For Subscribers

Marketing Without the ZIP A California ruling makes it illegal to collect customer ZIP codes in-store. Time to find more innovative ways to collect data on your customers.

By Brian Quinton

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

We've all been there. You go to buy something innocuous in a store--batteries, a $20 alarm clock--and the cashier asks for your ZIP code. If you're willing to risk the ire of the people in line behind you, you may balk and ask what purpose it serves the retailer to have that information. As sure as sunrise, the answer comes back: "Oh, they use it for marketing. Have a nice day."

Well, not in California they don't--not as of mid-February, and not for store purchases with a credit card. That's because the California Supreme Court reversed two lower-court decisions to say that retailer Williams-Sonoma, in asking an in-store credit card customer for her ZIP code, was really making an unlawful request for personally identifiable information (PII). The court held that the request was a violation of California's Song-Beverly Credit Card Act of 1971, which prohibits retailers from asking for PII such as an address or a telephone number when customers make a credit card purchase.

The lower courts had ruled that a simple ZIP code was not personally identifiable, since many thousands of people might live in that same code area. But the state Supreme Court looked at the issue and decided that if it was against the statute to ask for a phone number or a street address--which might also be shared with others--then asking for a ZIP code was also a non-starter.

Editor's Pick

Related Topics

Marketing

We Are Only Using 33% of Our Marketing Tech — And Draining Our ROI. Here's What Needs to Change to Profit Off Your Investment.

Thousands of martech tools have been discarded this year, mainly because of misaligned expectations and misguided implementation. Here's a better way to get value out of your martech stack.

Business News

'A Dystopian Parody': Snow White's Arm Bizarrely Detaches From Disney World Ride

A TikToker caught the unusual scene on camera on Tuesday.

Marketing

How Growth Hacking Will Lead to Rapid Business Expansion

No longer a buzzword, growth hacking is a vital strategy for business success.

Health & Wellness

Why the Holidays Are a Great Time to Start Your Healing Journey

These tips will help you get ahead so that once the holidays are over, you have already made a commitment to heal and can start diving into action to accomplish your goals

Business News

Chick-fil-A Is Getting Into Content Creation, Hiring an 'Entertainment Producer'

The popular chicken chain is launching the "PLAY entertainment app" and creating original series, podcasts, animations, and more.

Starting a Business

New Research Reveals 4 Personality Traits That Most Wealthy Entrepreneurs Share

In the book "Rich Habits," author and CPA Tom Corley shares the daily success habits of his most successful clients.