Track Me If You Can! - How Current Geo-location Technology is Becoming Obsolete

The very first episode of the hit television show, The Twilight Zone, accurately depicts the feeling of what a lot of marketers face on a daily basis. 

Mike Ferris, the protagonist of this 1959 airing of the horror-esque television series, finds himself as the last man on earth. Ferris constantly searches his town for a living soul, but no one can be found. The stress of not knowing where anyone was overtook Ferris, and caused him to have a nervous breakdown. Back then, no one had the ability to search for someone on a dime, use location based tracking, or even carry a cell phone. 


A dazed and confused Mike Ferris, wanting to know where everyone was!
Today, marketers use modern technology, such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to obtain insights about where and how their consumers are shopping. As identified in my previous blog, Can You See Me Now?, "Marketers are beginning to understand the value in the most critical Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) element of location, by taking the unknown and putting it into their control."

It is too easy for companies to know about where you are. That is because privacy is no longer a major issue. Although Generation Z is more concerned about protecting their identity than its preceding age-bracket, the overall trend of the past one-hundred years shows a decline in this issue, especially for Generation Y, as shown in a recent study. However, it has also been shown that Generation Z is the least concerned about privacy on mobile applications than any other generation in history.

This allows marketers to truly take advantage of the growing population by learning more about them in ways my grandparents would disapprove of. However, how accurate is this geo-location information? GPS has been widely used in devices large and small. Satellites thousands of miles away can track a willing and able device to the nearest 10 meters (approx. 33 feet). But is this really as accurate as markers want?

Cities and towns today are growing larger and more complex, and the current technology is not supporting this fast-paced trend. Sure we can tell what city, street, and maybe even building you are in, but we need more! One of the main problems with GPS is the fact that it does not take into consideration vertical location (height), and hyper-local pinpointing. For example, a grocery store in Manhattan has no idea if you are actually in their store, or shopping for books next door. Additionally, they cannot determine if you are a visiting friend of Jason who lives above the grocery store, or what aisle who are shopping in if you are in the store. 

How can marketers avoid this issue? 

The answer is being creative. Market researchers are using the existing technologies of the consumer and using them in different ways. Whether through online check-in, experiential gaming, augmented reality, or even through mobile search, companies can better understand where exactly their customers are, and gain even more insights than what GPS can offer alone. 

Technology giants like Amazon are beginning to experiment with beacons and sensors in their brick-and-mortar concept grocery stores, AmazonGo, to help the company with hyper-local positioning of their products, as well as their consumers. Amazon will be able to identify exactly where you are in the store, even in a multi-story building, as well as exactly the moment a product is taken off of the shelves and needs to be restocked. This technology will also help reduce check-out times by simply charging the customer upon exiting the premises with whatever contents are in their hands. 

Image result for amazon go grocery store beacons
Amazon knows exactly when this bottle is taken off of their AmazonGo grocery store shelf using beacon technology. 

Many believe that online will replace retail. However, I believe that some products cannot be replaced to online-purchasing only. People want to make sure they are buying the freshest, ripest, and highest quality food on the shelf. Grocery stores, if ever, will be the last to lose their physical locations. That is why it is important for marketers and companies to invest in this type of technology. Most of the time, consumers do not even know how often and to what extent businesses are tracking them, and trends show that they may not even care. 

Allowing markets to use beacon technology, and other forms of hyper-location based systems, will truly help the consumer by allowing them to target what the consumer wants and needs even before they do. Amazon is already doing this by actually predicted and ordering for the consumer before they even begin their efforts to restock their personal items. As ludicrous as this sounds, it is the reason Amazon continues to have a competitive advantage over every company in the hundreds of industries that they are a part of. They will continue to be the market leaders as long as they invest in this key IMC element of location. Knowing the consumer is useful, but understanding when and where they are while predicting their future purchases is powerful. 



Sources:
http://genhq.com/online-privacy-expectations-differ-dramatically-between-gen-z-and-older-generations/ 
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=ef0240db-2595-4a95-b5fe-68087888133c
http://www.gps.gov/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734692/
https://mumbrella.com.au/gps-isnt-the-answer-when-it-comes-to-location-based-marketing-471253
http://www.fooddive.com/news/grocery--5-reasons-to-believe-in-brick-and-mortar-grocery/504973/


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