Moving Targets: Somebody Follow Me, Please?

Author:

Steve Smith

Source:

During the last decade of covering behavioral targeting online I have seen piles and piles of data mined from peoples' digital travels. The digital universe has helped surface countless audience affinities and statistical correlations that many of us never suspected. But there are some consumer behaviors that require no sophisticated data queries or cookie-dropping. They are as obvious as they are, alas, under-utilized. To wit: walk through the aisles of any grocery, big box, apparel or media retailer and count how many people are on their cell phones. Amazing, isn't it?
 
The statistics bear this out. When InsightExpress did its most recent study of mobile usage related to retail, they found that 82% of respondents say they have used their cell phones in a store. Head researcher Joy Liuzzo of InsightExpress told me "Each time I mention how many people are using their phone in store, retailers do a little jerk back." As well they should. Talk about unrequited consumer behaviors.
 
For at least a decade now consumers have been calling home for shopping advice from the aisles. In recent years they have been directing their smartphone browsers to Web sites for product information when they can't find a salesperson to help. They have been texting friends and family at other stores to check prices there. And after all of this, only a handful of retailers even have usable mobile Web sites let alone mobile apps and program tuned to their own customers' behaviors.
 
To drill further into these numbers, 36% of the people InsightExpress surveyed said they had used the phone to call another person about ...
 
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