Hold back your high tech marketing tactics!
“Despite the growth of NFC, iBeacon, and mobile payment and the seemingly popularity of these technologies in the media, the average user is not aware of these new services that are offered to them”, told us Tim Gray, US Head of Corporate Communications at Retale.
Retale’s survey was asking both iOS and Android users about their mobile shopping experiences, usage and overall awareness. More than 3,000 active app users responded, and 75% of them said they were unaware that iBeacon exists, while only 11% of Android users claim to use Google Wallet. Just 23% of iOS users have tried Passbook for coupon shopping offers.
According to the same survey, 56% of mobile shoppers don’t know near field communications (NFC) is a contactless payment system used for mobile payments, and the 38% who are familiar with the technology choose not to use it. Only 5% to 6% say they regularly use NFC to pay retailers.
“On a secondary level, some users are fearful, showing concern about their privacy”, Gray added.
In a time of growing privacy concerns about big data and with new personal data harvesting scandals emerging every week, it is not surprising that every new tracking technology setting the balance too much in favour of advertising companies would not be well received by consumers.
The survey also highlighted that iOS users are more receptive to in-store push notifications, while the majority of Android users said they don’t want notifications sent to their mobile while shopping.
More alarmingly for in-store geolocalized advertising and all the notification push strategies designed around iBeacon, 71% of mobile app users clearly say they don’t like the idea of being tracked into a store via their smartphones. Only 29% of respondents are not concerned with being monitored.
Of course, this goes against the ongoing trend among companies to make the most of their customers’ visit by trying to use smartphones to connect consumers’ online behaviour to offline activities, in-store.
Often these types of surveys are carried out by technology providers to help retailers understand how consumers perceive the new incentives to buy that are pushed their way, and how brands and retail stores can work around old habits to engage with their customers through new channels.
A lack of technology awareness may be fixed by retailers being more proactive, assisting shoppers with the new technology. But how could retailers conciliate the fact than most mobile users don’t want to be tracked, with their own thirst for more data and more sales? In that case, helping consumers to better understand the benefits of these technologies is like helping them to swallow an unsavoury pill.
For the providers of technology, the game is about “educating” consumers, or confusing them with plenty of saving incentives and coupons more favourably obtained if they accept the retailers’ terms of service “i.e. being tracked”.
Gray remains fairly confident that his business won’t be affected by these findings, as Retale is keeping it very simple for its users.
The concept of Retale™ began in Germany with the award-winning kaufda.de web portal and kaufDA Navigator app. After demonstrating success in Germany, kaufDA expanded abroad as ofertia.com in Spain, bonial.fr in France, lokata.ru in Russia and guiato.com.br in Brazil. It claims 13 million App users globally.
With its “Weekly Ads & Deals” app, Retale offers its App users to find all the latest information for local shopping, in their city, with a quick digital access to the latest weekly ads and flyers they are already used to pick up in print at their favorite stores. Users can sign up to receive regular updates and deal alerts.
“When retailers print a circular, we digitize it without changing the format, the digital circular is the same as the paper one, and when users open it, they recognize it straight away”, Gray says.
“But retailers get more statistics about the engagement from App users, which products, which ads are browsed and how they interact with it”. They simply help retailers drive more traffic to their physical stores”, he concluded.
Check out the full study
Visit Retale at www.retale.com
Related articles:
Apple’s iBeacon to propel micro-location revolution
Amazon’s smartphone: a tracking tool in disguise
Lost in Big Data: digital zombies
Precisely not there: fake GPS positioning
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