Consumer Resistance To In-Store Tracking: Now What?

By Erin Harris, Editor-In-Chief, Cell & Gene
Follow Me On Twitter @ErinHarris_1

In the April issue of Integrated Solutions for Retailers, Matt Pillar wrote a great article about the customer centric and business benefits of the iBeacon technology.  He explains that the iBeacon is a welcome addition to retail’s technology lineup not only because of the real-time, personalized offers it helps deliver to consumers, but also due to the real-time data it can capture for the business — aisle-specific dwell time, traffic counts, etc. — at a cost-efficient price.

But what about the segment of the consumer population that doesn’t want their every move tracked while they shop?  According to a recent survey by OpinionLab, 77% of respondents find in-store tracking unacceptable.  Indeed, privacy protection is paramount especially in the wake of the recent breaches, and if your customers aren’t interested in receiving offers, (for now anyway), so be it. But don’t rule out the technology simply because some of your customers may not want their smartphones to blow up the second they walk into your store. There’s more to it than that.

Beacons, regardless of provider, are designed to deliver always-on, low-power, geofence-based location awareness, which enables an application to become aware of consumer’s location, including arrival, departure, and dwell times. Even if some of your customers have not opted-in to receive personalized push notifications from you, beacons still garner the aforementioned actionable (non-personalized) data from anyone with a smartphone. Using that data to design or improve your mobile strategy — now that’s powerful.

Boost Your Mobile Strategy With In-Store Tracking Analytics

Mobile applications are an effective way to connect with you customers, especially the millennial generation, which has solidified its role as the consumer spending force to beat. But, mobile apps are not an “if-you-build-it-they-will-come” business. Nowadays, getting a large number of customers to download your app — and use it — is a daunting task. A 10% download rate is exceptional, and it allows you to engage those customers with personalized content that can drive customer engagement, sales, and loyalty. But, you know what’s better? Data about 100% of general shoppers inside the four walls of your store at any given time.

With that data comes the places they visit or dwell at and how they move through your location from outside to the POS. The breadth and depth of the data enables omni-channel marketers to take a big step forward.

As far as retail technology goes, beacons are still in their infancy. But, retail technology, regardless of its maturity — and the data you receive from it — is only one piece to the puzzle. Sure, beacon technology is an enabler for mobile apps. But that alone isn’t the smoking gun for a strong mobile strategy. Develop a strategy to garner the highest and best exposure to your audience, and couple it with in-store tracking, which can help you become more customer-centric. And customer centricity moves the sales needle.