If you own one of the millions of smartphones in the US today you probably know that everything you do online is being tracked. When you visit a website on your phone, open an app or simply travel with your phone in your pocket you are creating data—but did you know that your GPS data is also being collected?

This microdata or, better yet, empirical data is extraordinarily valuable to an advertiser. Empirical data can be used to help understand the habits not only for the individual consumer but also for a group of consumers. This greatly increases the potential of an advertisement achieving its goal.

Target is a great example of a retail brick and mortar business that is also reaching out digitally to its consumers. Target’s mobile app for smartphone, Cartwheel, allows consumers to choose or scan a product and save money based on your purchases. Cartwheel is unique as its focus is to get you to turn on the app while you are in the store and use it during your shopping. While utilizing this app, data is being collected—your purchases, things you scan but don’t purchase, even the path you walk through the store.

Similarly, when you visit Home Depot online and search for a specific product the result will show you the aisle in which the product is located. This provides the consumer with an easier shopping experience and the retailer with the data it craves.

As this technology progresses the data the advertisers collect will also allow our smartphones to create efficiency in our lives. Our schedules and routes to work and school will be integrated with errands we need to complete, places we frequent for coffee or to the gym to workout. Trips to the grocery store will be linked up with coupons for items we frequently purchase or items on our list.

Nuevo Advertising