Monday, November 28, 2011
"Malls track shoppers' cell phones on Black Friday"
Like all great inventions and innovations, the cell phone is extremely useful; and, at the same time, capable of being abused in a big way.
And who is dumb enough to believe that this ends with this shopping season...
And who is dumb enough to believe that this ends with this shopping season...
Annalyn Censky reported on this aspect at CNN.com:
"Starting on Black Friday and running through New Year's Day, two U.S. malls -- Promenade Temecula in southern California and Short Pump Town Center in Richmond, Va. -- will track guests' movements by monitoring the signals from their cell phones.
While the data that's collected is anonymous, it can follow shoppers' paths from store to store.
The goal is for stores to answer questions like: How many Nordstrom shoppers also stop at Starbucks? How long do most customers linger in Victoria's Secret? Are there unpopular spots in the mall that aren't being visited?
While U.S. malls have long tracked how crowds move throughout their stores, this is the first time they've used cell phones.
But obtaining that information comes with privacy concerns."