New features through eBay’s RedLaser have made discounts and in-store mapping possible.
According to the latest news from eBay Inc. and its RedLaser app, new geolocation features will now allow consumers to discover offers and deals from local retailers that are close by, with a simple tap of the screen.
So far, there are several big name participants in this program that could be beneficial to shoppers.
Among the deals that can be discovered through this geolocation app are those from Sears, Best Buy, and Toys ‘R’ Us, among others. This latest update to the mobile commerce app from eBay occurred earlier this week. Since then, it has included a Local Deals tab, as well as additional coupons to help promote savings.
Among the additional geolocation features are the ability to clip coupons, view flyers, and receive alerts.
The notification alerts occur when a nearby store is offering RedLaser deals. The geolocation technology then takes things a step further by allowing the smartphone user to view interactive in-store mapping of various retailers such as some Home Depot and Walgreen’s locations.
According to the geolocation technology news releases, the RedLaser app can now be used in a broad range of different ways. It opens by suggesting products that the user may find appealing. These are selected based on the searches that have previously been performed by the consumer since first using the app. The app can also be tapped to see the top deals of the day. Beyond that, its features have already included searching by image and keyword, as well as scanning product barcodes.
In order to use the geolocation feature for local deals, users of the app can tap the new tab and browse for the various offers available nearby in the “browse deals around you” section, which is accessed through a button tap. This provides a list of nearby retailers that participate in the program, ordered from closest to the one that is farthest away. Choosing a specific retailer opens a page that includes details about the nearby store location, its available weekly flyer, any coupons that can be used in-store, any online offers being made available, as well as an in-store map (if it is available at that location).
Customer data gives merchants the ability to make their promotions an
d offers geographically relevant.
The use of smartphones and geolocation technology is giving retailers an entirely new angle for leveraging the geographical data of consumers so that they can provide them with marketing that will be more applicable to their unique wants and needs.
As mobile device penetration continues to increase, the opportunities for merchants are rapidly expanding.
An ever growing number of consumers is carrying smartphones wherever they go, which is providing retailers with geolocation data that has never been available to them at any other moment in history. However, aside from making it easier to actually reach those customers, these devices are also giving a potentially critical piece of information to companies about their customers and potential shoppers: their actual location.
A McKinsey Big Data report identified some of the larger potential benefits of geolocation.
That mobile marketing report indicated that over the next ten years, geolocation data will have the capability to form a massive $100 billion merely in the value that it offers service providers. An MIT Sloan Management Review editor named Renee Boucher Fergunson, who is also a researcher, explained that “geography is making a comeback.”
The latest in geolocation technologies is giving companies the opportunity to obtain vital data about their consumers, no matter where they may be. This, according to the SAP Retail program principal, Colin Haig. The NGDATA CEO, Luc Burgelman, expanded on this concept by saying that the pressure that retailers are currently facing in order to define themselves as unique within the marketplace is leaning increasingly toward methods that are geographically relevant.
That said, as is the case with other forms of data collection, retailers are being cautioned not to cross a certain line with geolocation techniques, and to steer clear of behaviors that could label them as having a Big Brother style agenda. It is important to collect this mobile commerce data, without overstepping boundaries that would lead consumers to feel that their trust has been abused. The result would only be negative as customers take specific actions to protect their information and block a specific company from being able to access it.
