You could soon get more junk mail thanks to Royal Mail

Householders are set to start receiving more junk mail, targeted on the basis of their internet browsing habits.

Royal Mail has confirmed that it's teaming up with an unnamed major retailer for the project, which could start within months.

The mailshots won't only reflect what customers have already bought. Simply clicking on a product to add it to an online shopping basket but then changing your mind would be enough to trigger a letter, prompting you to go ahead with the purchase.

This is because the retailer, like most companies, uses 'cookies' on its website to identify which people are visiting it and what products they are looking at. Where customers have previously given the company an address, perhaps by buying something and arranging delivery, this information is then used to target a mailshot. The marketing mail will be delivered by Royal Mail a day or two later.

"We see mail as a medium that is complementary to digital activity and the great benefit of this approach is that as soon as you identify an individual - and match their postal address and the online activity through a cookie - then you've got the ability to really join up the customer experience," Royal Mail MarketReach managing director Jonathan Harman, told an industry conference earlier this month.

But the move will not do down well with people worried about their personal privacy.

"These plans mean that not only will people be bombarded by targeted adverts, they could also be deluged by letters, often with no knowledge of why or how Royal Mail have got hold of this information, Daniel Nesbitt, of Big Brother Watch, told the Daily Mail.

"Businesses must think very carefully about how they inform their customers about their part in the scheme... People have a right to know where this kind of marketing is coming from and most importantly why they're getting it."

Harman admitted that privacy issues could present a problem, saying: "That's why the reach and frequency rules we set will be very important."

With the volume of traditional letters and parcels falling, Royal Mail is increasingly relying on marketing mail to make money, earning it £3 million a day. It's now delivering almost 3.2 billion items of unaddressed marketing mail a year - almost twice as much as five years ago.

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