Reference no: EM133035473

Various tools and technologies are helping to bridge the gap between e-commerce and traditional commerce, Including mobile devices and social media. Often, potential buyers see what their social networking friends have to say about products before making a purchase. Transparency is the key, given that buyers can now compare prices from nearly anywhere-including from a physical store. New sets of technologies are being introduced that track the customer when the customer is inside the store. Apple's iBeacon, which competes with near field communication (NFC), is one such technology. It is a small wireless device that uses Bluetooth to detect and communicate with new generations of iPhones and iPads that are running iOS7 and beyond.79 A GPS guides a customer to a store; iBeacon then tracks the customer inside the store. (Qualcomm has developed its own version of iBeacon, Gimbal proximity beacons, which work with either iOS or Android.) There are many potential applications of this technology.

For example, a retailer can send a coupon as soon as it detects that a customer has walked to a particular aisle and is looking at a particular product. In Apple stores, for another example, as soon as the customer walks by the iPhone table, he or she will get a notification on upgrades. Major League Baseball has already announced that it will use iBeacon to customize fans' experiences at ballparks by using its "At The Ballpark" app. Some businesses are already using iPads as cash registers; these customers can potentially be tracked by Apple. Also, with Apple's huge user base, this technology has potential for tremendous growth. Privacy issues may be a concern as these tools and technologies roll out, given that customers will be tracked in stores that are equipped with this technology.

However, customers may not mind this tracking as long as there is something in it for them. Neiman Marcus is the latest retailer to test Bluetooth beacons to guide the customer to in-store sales. Additionally, they want to merge the online and in-store shopping experience, "clicks to bricks" or "bricks to clicks," as it is called in the industry. The app would know if a customer that has browsed the retailer Web site will guide the customer to the right item in the store. Amazon Go, which is a cashier-less grocery store, has completely automated the grocery shopping experience. By doing that it is taking customer tracking to a new level, among other things!

Questions:

1. What is the function of Apple's iBeacon?

2. What are the differences between iBeacon and GPS?

3. How might a retail business benefit from iBeacon?

4. What are some of the concerns that customers may have about this technology?