Apparently, smartphone users aren’t fans of in-store tracking.
Seriously.
It’s as if a grand chorus is rising up with one voice to say, “Are you stalking me? I mean, seriously, are you?”
An April 2014 study by PunchTab showed that just 27 percent of smartphone owners in the U.S. said they would allow mobile in-store tracking in order to receive relevant, real-time information and offers.
Conversely, 50 percent were not open to mobile tracking. A smaller group — about 24 percent — didn’t have strong feelings yeah or nay.
“Privacy was the biggest concern, cited by 51 percent,” according to a story on the study posted at eMarketer.”Meanwhile, just 13 percent wouldn’t sign up to receive benefits via mobile tracking because of concerns around too many messages, 12 percent weren’t interested because of intrusiveness, and 8 percent were worried about receiving irrelevant messages.”
Of course, incentives make all the difference. The study found that the best ways to get mobile tracking permission comes with an offer of coupons or discounts.
“Smartphone users also showed high interest in getting alerts when products they were interested in went on sale. Convenience played a role, too, with shorter checkout times a top draw,” according to the story.
It’s a tough crowd, though.
Nearly half of respondents used apps in-store to check other retailer prices—a situation retailers could counter if they knew when and where to serve relevant, real-time info and offers to consumers.
