1. What is shopper marketing, and how might retailers use Wi-Fi technology to implement it?
2. What will be the likely response as more shoppers learn that retailers gather information without their knowledge?
According to Nielsen, more than 50 percent of mobile phone consumers own smartphones. Many of them use free Wi-Fi when available for faster connections and to reduce data usage charges. But even when they don't log on to the Wi-Fi, the device continues to search, giving information on users' locations. By using the signals emitted by shoppers' smartphones, retailers can keep tabs on shoppers, knowing where they are and what they are searching for on their phones' browsers. Retailers can learn in which aisles shoppers are most likely to check online prices at retailers such as Amazon.com and can send an alert to a sales representative. "Heat mapping" identifies traffic patterns and locations attracting the greatest number of shoppers checking the Internet. This gives retailers an idea of the products most vulnerable to "showrooming"- the practice of shoppers visiting stores to learn about and try products and later purchasing them for less online.