“How Can I Help You?”: User Perceptions of Privacy in Retail Chat Agents

Chatbots that request user data are proliferating in the retail industry. There are studies showing that increase in perceived privacy risks can decrease their adoption rate. In this study, we interview eight participants about their reasons behind these perceived privacy risks so that developers can make retail chatbots more privacy-preserving and respectful of user choices. This short thematic analysis highlights some of the privacy concerns in such bots and some of the recommendations that will be helpful for future work to build on.