Denny |
February 27, 2014
As smartphones, tablets, and wearable tech now includes GPS and other tracking, it has made experiences easier to customize.
According to a recent report from the Pew Institute, the majority of smartphone using adults are now using their mobile devices to obtain information such as directions, which indicates that location based marketing has more of an opportunity now than it ever has before.
In fact, consumers actively use their smartphones for information based on where they are.
This is the type of communication that they want, and if location based marketing is used properly, it can offer them exactly what consumers are seeking. The Pew Institute’s data showed that 74 percent of smartphone owners who are aged 18 years or older “say they use their phone to get directions or other information based on their current location.”
The penetration of smartphones has also expanded the opportunity presented by location based marketing.
According to the data from the report, smartphone penetration in the United States has now reached 74 percent and it is continuing to rise. This means that a very large percentage of cell phone users are using geolocation technology and are open to some level of mobile marketing based on where they are.
Consumers are using geolocation for a range of different types of activities, particularly when it comes to shopping. This is making for hot mobile marketing news as mcommerce using companies that are always seeking new and effective ways to reach consumers through their devices of choice.
Shoppers can be influenced by location based marketing as they conduct searches for directions to a specific place, to find the nearest shop in a chain, or simply to discover the best place to grab a coffee based on where they are at that specific moment. They may also research a product and then want to find it in a retail store that is nearby and that offers it for a good price. Increasingly, they are relying on their mobile devices to tell them what they want and where they can find it. Businesses that want to ensure that they stay on top are working to make sure that they can be found at exactly those moments.
The application uses the GPS built into the device to ensure that food is served fast and hot.
Taco Bell is about to join the latest mobile apps that will be bringing enhancements to ordering functionalities over smartphones and tablets, as they expand the testing of location based marketing and services using GPS technology.
Californian consumers will likely be the first ones who will be able to take advantage of the new app.
Though using location based technology in mobile apps may seem as though it is a little bit risky, as it closes the window for error quite a bit, this does not seem to be the actual experience at the Taco Bell test restaurants, so far. It could seem that people would try to make their food orders on their way to the restaurant and that this would increase the likelihood of long wait times, but so far, those who have tested it are often reporting that their maximum wait times are around two minutes.
Taco Bell is using the design of its mobile apps to better suit the needs of its primary demographic.
The consumers who eat at their quick service restaurants the most are, according to Taco Bell, young Millenials. As those are the people who are the most likely to have smartphones and to use them for a greater number of daily activities, it only seems to make sense that restaurants tap into that with location based marketing and services that can help to increase their sales.
Their latest report indicated that among smartphone owners, two out of every five will use their mobile devices for finding a place to eat. Providing these diners with a way to not only find the restaurant locations very easily using GPS technology, but also offering a way to actually order the food while on the go so that it will be ready upon arrival.
Though Taco Bell is not the first company to implement mobile ordering, its mobile apps appear to be the first ones that will be full featured and that provide the ability to order anything from the menu – including customizations of those menu items – while allowing the customer to tell the restaurant when he or she will be arriving at the location to pick it up.
