Lots of
people possess smartphones and use mobile apps for a variety of purposes, but
that doesn’t mean they’re altogether comfortable with shopping apps that track
their whereabouts and text promotional messages.
This type
of app has been touted as the next big thing for retailers, as it allows them
to follow customers while they shop and tempt them with offers if they’re
nearby. However, a survey of 3,000 mobile app users indicates shoppers are a
little creeped out by that prospect.
More than
71% of respondents said they don’t want merchants to track them via smartphone.
They were a little more receptive to getting push notifications with special
offers—only 56% overall were against such messages, although more Apple iOS
users than others were willing to receive them. Even so, most of the survey
takers didn’t know anything about Apple’s new iBeacon technology, which enables
retailers to send notifications to customers while they’re in the physical
store.
Despite
considerable news coverage of near field communications technology, only 38% of
respondents were familiar with it and fewer than 6% actually use it for
contactless payments.
The survey
was conducted by a company, Retale, that may have reason to be pleased by the
results. Retale helps participating retailers get their traditional sales
circulars—the kind typically inserted in print newspapers or mailed directly to
homes—into shoppers’ hands by aggregating them online by geographical location.
