A retail system 100 and method for sharing user information is disclosed, the system 100 comprises a database server comprising a user database 120 containing user information 121 — 128 associated with a plurality of users, a retailer server comprising a retailer database 140 containing customer information associated with customers 123; 124, an identification token (Fig 2, 218) uniquely identifying each user and a terminal (fig 3, 300) for reading the identification token. In use, the terminal reads the identification token and provides a request to the database server for the information of the user 123 identified from the identification token. The database server then retrieves the information associated with the identified user and sends the user information to the retailer server 140 for incorporation into the retailer database. This ensures that a retail relationship, such as a loyalty scheme, is not established until the user visits the retailer.
