Indoor Location-based Services

Indoor Location-based Services

Powell’s Books, an independent store in Portland, has created an iPhone app that provides customers with turn-by-turn directions to the books they are looking for. The app has seen several thousand downloads to date. A company spokesperson has said that sales increased when the app was implemented and that eighty percent of usage was in-store while twenty percent represented searching and planning before visiting the store.

Implications: Eventually there will be a central database of store maps that will provide experiences like this for consumers at any retail location; several start-ups are already working on this. In the short-term, systems such as this are within reach for malls and dense urban shopping districts that want to help consumers find stores rather than individual products. Marketers that control their own retail locations should make sure to be included in these systems and should also consider creating an in-store mapping app in the style of the Powell’s Books app.

Cultural Macrotrend: Technomorphing

via ClickZ

via moxieinteractive.com