• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, March 11, 2015

While consumers are increasingly expecting — okay, maybe even demanding — personalized offers and promotions that are provided in real-time, there’s a problem. They are also increasingly resentful of marketers who try to get the information needed to create those offers. And digital natives have distinctly different privacy preferences from Baby Boomers.

Those are among the findings of a new study from Accenture, the global consulting company, which reports that overall, about 60% of consumers want real-time promotions and offers. But only 20% want retailers to know their current location, and just 14% are willing to share their browsing history. 

The study, designed to explore the digital trust required for a shopper to let a marketer collect, store, and use their digital information, also reports that an impressive 90% say they would like to rein retailers in somehow. Some 88%, for example, say they would like to be the ones who get to determine how their data is used, and 84% would like the chance to review and correct information. 

Of course, there are plenty of digital programs that consumers do like, including automatic discounts for loyalty points and coupons (favored by 82% of those in the survey). And they also like when Web sites are optimized for them to use on different devices (64%) and that they’re presented with items they are thinking about buying (64%.) And 51% say they like “one-click” checkout retailers, to save them time.

But the research, based on an online survey of some 1,000 people, also found key age differences. Millennials, for example, are more likely than Baby Boomers to seek out advice about in-store purchases: 45% like the idea of a personal shopper selecting items based on their style or fit, compared with 28% of Baby Boomers. And 68% of younger consumers say they would like to get a warning from a retailer, such as a possible negative drug interaction, while only 30% of Baby Boomers would appreciate that level of digital intimacy.

Baby Boomers also expect more in return for exchanging their data, including automatic crediting for coupons and loyalty points (74%) and special offers (70%) compared with 58% and 61% of Millennials.