Mobile location capabilities are evolving into presenting what
could be an intriguing challenge for retailers.
The last question in a survey we wrote about here last week (Smartphones Give 69% a Better Shopping Experience) dealt with which of two
approaches by retailers is more desired by smartphone shoppers and the answer poses an interesting dilemma.
Smartphone owners were asked which was more important: retailers respecting their
privacy or retailers presenting them with relevant offers.
The results were essentially split, with slightly more than half (53%) saying retailers respecting their privacy was more important
and almost half (47%) saying presenting relevant offers matters more.
"A 53/47 split overall is a dead heat,” said Greg Girard, program director retail Insights at IDC, which conducted
the study. “That leaves retailers with a one in two chance of missing an opportunity to be relevant and the same odds of offending a shopper. Success is all about context, and with each consumer
setting his or her own, retailers need better individualized insight to improve their odds of success."
And that’s the challenge for retailers: walking the fine line between
respecting privacy and presenting relevant offers.
While one consumer may perceive a particular offer to be of value, another consumer may view that same offer as an intrusion of their
privacy.
Consumer reaction could be based either on the information or the perceived means the merchant used to be able to provide such a targeted message.
While individual shopper
targeting is getting more precise technically, such as with low energy beacons that can transmit location, that same targeting poses challenges based on each person being reached.
This is not
a totally new issue, as we’ve written about here in the past (The Cool vs. Creepy
Scale in Mobile Shopping), though the IDC research suggests a split consumer viewpoint, making it even more critical for retailers to get it right.
The issue comes down to reaching the
right consumer with the right message at the right time without crossing the privacy line.
And that may be easier said than done.