Yesterday, as I was walking through my hometown mall, I wandered into a shoe store looking for a pair of sneakers. Meanwhile, I was on Facebook messaging my mom about our dinner plans for the evening. And in the sidebar of the site, an advertisement appeared. Not just any advertisement, but one for the very shoe store I was walking through!
Creepy, right? I had never visited their site online. Was someone watching me through a security camera? My paranoia kicked in, causing me to look over my shoulder all day. Ok, not really, because I actually understand the idea of beacons, but still, weird.
What are Advertising Beacons?
Advertising beacons are a type of location-based, in-store advertising. They utilize Bluetooth technology, and when a store has a beacon installed, the Bluetooth is used to locate smartphones which are being used by individuals in the store. In-store beacons then communicate with the phone to send advertisements, coupons, or other media.
The goal of in-store beacons is to enhance the shopping experience, but to those of us who did not grow up in the smartphone-child era (aka, most of us), it can feel a bit invasive.
What’s the point?
Research has shown that customers are typically averse to mobile advertising. Why, then, do retailers use this technology if the majority of people are annoyed by it?
Well, there are two sides to every coin. It is also true that consumers tend to respond to advertising that is well-timed and relevant. It’s all a matter of figuring out what is relevant and what is just annoying, plain and simple. However, mobile consumers are often on their way somewhere, or are trying to quickly look something up, and they don't have time to be clicking through ads.
Information-Gathering vs. User Privacy
To me, the part of in-store beacons that is most invasive is the consumer information retailers get from these beacons. They use customer app data to gather statistics about how customers move through stores, their buying and browsing habits, and other data. They then use this to try to tailor later marketing decisions, on both an individual and personal level.
There is always a balance to be struck between utility and privacy. It is true that, if the data being gathered has clear benefit in the consumer’s mind, and they have a demonstrable benefit, then maybe the consumer won’t mind this data mining.
However, many tech and mobile users, in particular, are more and more concerned with privacy as time goes on. These kinds of mobile, location-based advertising pings sometimes only serve to exacerbate the distaste shoppers have for advertising and turn them off to the brand entirely.
Overall, consumers want to feel like advertisers are on their side, trying to help them make informed decisions. Beacons’ advertising can sometimes just feel like a desperate ploy for profit. The industry seems still to have a long way to go in their attempts to integrate mobile advertising technology seamlessly in their stores.
In the meantime, I still feel kind of sketched out by these beacons. What’s your opinion? Are they useful enough to be worth it? Still undecided?
