Thursday 18 September 2014

Stores that track your behaviour through wifi - are we okay with that?

Breakthroughs in wifi provision mean that companies can now track your movements in store to understand which aisle you are, which product you are in front of and how you are conducting your online buying research instore. This zoning of wifi is possible through customers accepting free wifi services that stores can then use to target promotions using contextual information about you from your movement. Scary big brother intrusion or wonderfully connected services?  For most of us this activity will be underway without us consciously aware of its presence. This is a dangerous stepping stone for companies who want to enhance the customer experience and interact in a more targeted manner but how do you prevent customers running for the hills as they realise you are monitoring their every move.  Slowly?  Or take a leap and lead from the front?  Customers will adapt to this open access to their behaviour and will become the norm. Until then those stepping into this space need to be as open from the outset with this approach. Publicise it in your stores and shout about it rather than doing it by stealth to help educate your customers and build that epic experience. 

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