Retail is dead. I will never go into a Macy's ever again. I was treated like crap last time I was in one. Buy everything I can online. Free ship, and in many cases, no tax.
I would buy groceries online as well, but it is actually easier and faster to plan a week's menu on paper, then zip to the store I've been using for 10 years. I know where everything is, and at a glance can compare sale items. Oddly enough, that's the one application that doesn't match online, but fairly, only because I am so familair with the store and products.
Bold prediction: retail in America will be a niche/ oddity in 50 years. Kinda like landlines and fax machines. They have a place, but only narrow applications.
I doubt that. Retail is and will be alive and well... it will 'cloudily' (e.g. Amazon)... But that's no different than what Macy's was 100 years ago... One hundred little shops inside one big one.
I see the next tick of groceries is 'concierge shopping' You make your menu/list on your home device.... upload it to the store, and what's on your list is bagged and in cool/room/warm storage and waiting for you at your estimated time of arrival.
Why... If you don't have shoppers in your store, you can make your store smaller and more efficient (think automation... conveyors with most goods in drop chute bins... "2 dozen free range eggs... bombs away!"). You eliminate the position of 'stocker' and effectively it's a QA and 'specialty picker.' and bagger/curbside delivery. Cart is weighed at each step and at the end for QA. You can still walk up to the counter and place your order (think carryout pizza), and they will pick it and give it to you.
If you don't think this will happen, Amazon Grocery Delivery will change your mind;-) (Fresh.amazon.com). If amazon is thinking of it, then someone like Walmart can do it now, although I think it will have to be a disruptive new force to do it
Again, this was what shopping for food was 100 years ago... but the counter became the choke point, as well corporate marketing demanding consumer exposure to the 'brand' (100 years ago, you bought 'green peas' now you got 'green giant','birdseye','seneca','Libby's', pic'n'fresh, krogers, etc. etc. etc).
Google beacon is going to be in kiosks all across Asia. As you walk buy a sidewalk vendor, you'll be notified of the opportunity to buy an Android video stick (nee Tablet) loaded with more Bruce Willis movies, using the fact that you downloaded Die Hard 2 the night before.
well crap. like others, i'm hoping that it will be used to help me find what i'm looking for. but instead, right out of the gate, it's being used to track me and market to me. no thanks.
That logic I'll never understand.
First of all, it's not "tracking" you, it's just aware of when you enter a specific area. Second, it has to know this information if you want it to help you find something.
Furthermore...
1. You're in the store shopping, probably planning to purchase something.
2. You've installed the store's app on your mobile device.
3. You've opted in to allow the app access to your location data.
4. You've made lists of things you like/want.
If you're willing to do ALL of that, what the hell else is the store supposed to think you want?
I think its only a matter of time before grocery and hardware stores, etc. implement this. There's an opportunity for those companies who are lagging behind those in their industry to attract customers to their store. It also depends on their approach to using iBeacons. I would want their primary focus to show me how I can find what I am looking for so I can get in and out of your store as quickly as possible and you might win my business going forward. Depends of course on how you value convenience vs. price.
On the flip side, I'll be concerned about bluetooth hacks trying to access my phone. There will be trade-offs for just about anything.
Sorry, but Google is also jumping on the Beacon bandwagon as is every other big retailer, advertiser and data tracking company. iBeacons is just Apple's implementation. BLE-enabled Android and Windows phones will be tracked just as surely as iPhones, and all of them on a much more personal and identifiable level than we probably want possible if we stopped to think about it.
Remember when cookie's were considered an offensive and intrusive tracking tool? We'll end up longing for the days when we thought those were our worst privacy concern.
The problem with Google is they are working with retailers to implement this at the OS level - meaning you could potentially be flamed with "ads" whether you've installed a specific app or not. Furthermore, Google, as they do with all other data, will use it to gather this "beacon" information so they can target ads at users.
First of all, it's not "tracking" you, it's just aware of when you enter a specific area. Second, it has to know this information if you want it to help you find something.
Furthermore...
1. You're in the store shopping, probably planning to purchase something.
2. You've installed the store's app on your mobile device.
3. You've opted in to allow the app access to your location data.
4. You've made lists of things you like/want.
If you're willing to do ALL of that, what the hell else is the store supposed to think you want?
Very true. The customer has to essentially "opt-in" to all this so it's not like there is something nefarious going on here.
I also think there's a lot of hypocrisy going on here as everyone likes the information being mined, yet they turn around and scream "privacy" when it involves them.
Case in point... I live in the San Francisco bay area. We use an electronic toll system called Fastrak. Essentially it means that we don't have to stop to pay tolls at the bridges. Those little transmitters we stick to our windshields and dashboards are also used to feed into a system to provide real-time traffic conditions on all our roads here. That same data that everyone uses to check traffic on their maps programs. Lots of us use it. We don't really think twice about "the Man" using the info to track where I am at any one point in time.
I really think that if an individual whines about data collection practices like this, they should be banned from using any kind of publicly-gathered data since that feeds into their hysteria.
I like the iBeacon concept. It's inevitable I think.
So why not have audio alerts from your pocket? Either a preset tone or have Siri speak it to you. “Hey, you just passed the milk. Get 1% this time, fatty.”
Funny. Not that fat actually makes you fat, but that's another topic.
Wrong. I do it already with a shopping list app and its great.
'Wrong'. I love your overconfident proclamations.
A shopping list is one thing, but this is the store talking over your screen, that can't go well. Apple doing it in an Apple store is one thing, but one of these other guys getting access to your information and attention like that strikes me as something entirely different - in a bad way.
This comes true if you install their shitty app. Otherwise they'll have to leave you alone or you'll (well me) can take your business somewhere that won't hassle you. This end up being the new 'as soon as I enter the store someone pounces on me'.
The problem with Google is they are working with retailers to implement this at the OS level - meaning you could potentially be flamed with "ads" whether you've installed a specific app or not. Furthermore, Google, as they do with all other data, will use it to gather this "beacon" information so they can target ads at users.
Of course they will. No one would expect any different. The retailers using beacons along with their partner advertisers/data aggregators/data analyzers will be doing the same thing. Even Apple.
This is all about discovering more precise information about you specifically and personally in order to get deeper into your pockets. Who you are, where you are, where you've been, what you were doing, what you've eaten, what you've bought, and where you're probably going next.
If you hate the relatively innocuous discovery that cookies offer....
There are existing systems that use IR or lasers to track people... but they don't know who you are -- you are just an anonymous dot on an indoor map of a store. If, say, three people hug each other then then separate, they can't differentiate among the 3 different dots.
BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) devices can be recognized individually if they are advertising their unique ID (UUID). Mainly these are used for beacons placed at fixed locations in a store. An iOS device can act as a mobile beacon if it advertises its unique ID (UUID). This is totally anonymous as the UUID has nothing to do with you or your device. You can generate a UUID in several ways -- go to:
Every time you reload the page it generates a different UUID. There is a very, very low probability that any two UUIDs will be the same.
So, when your iPhone runs an app that advertises a UUID -- it's unique... that's all. Another app, listening for advertisements detects that there's an unique UUID out there -- but doesn't know what it is or who you are -- just that the UUID is different than any other UUID out there. If you choose (via the app running in your iPhone) you can reveal more info about what kind of device you are, etc.
That's low-level BLE beacons.
Apple iBeacons are a much higher and much tighter implementation.
Your iPhone iBeacon app only listens for UUIDs you are [currently] looking for -- say Macy's, Nordstroms, etc. -- while ignoring Wal-Mart, Target. etc.
Your Phone app can, at your option, advertise your UUID (as defined previously) so you can be tracked, anonymously.
But Apple expects you to detect iBeacons at fixed locations in a store you are listening for (interested in) to alert you to things of interest to you. You can opt in for alerts on items of interest to you, ignore the alerts, or just stop listening.
Hopefully you will buy things (still anonymously)... At some point you will check out and pay for your purchases. if you want to remain anonymous pay cash, or via PayPal [or, in the future] the iTunes store... if not, pay by check or credit card.
In any case, you choose if you are tracked or identified.
2) Can't wait for Dick to show us his implementation
3) I like Burberry, where they show additional colours of a dress in the mirror when the woman tries it out in the fitting room
I doubt that. Retail is and will be alive and well... it will 'cloudily' (e.g. Amazon)... But that's no different than what Macy's was 100 years ago... One hundred little shops inside one big one.
He meant online retail would take over retail completely.
This would be great at Home Depot. I can never find the AC filters
Absolutely! Or how about at the grocery store. It scans your shopping list and plans out your route and alerts you when you have reached the item. It keeps a running total $ as you go.
I would hope that it is an opt in type of service. Or I guess I mean you can shut it down when you don't want to be targeted or tracked while shopping. I am cool with it as long as I have full control of MANY privacy settings.
You do... with Apple's implementation of iBeacons -- you're in total control!
Why even go to the store? Why not just sit at a device all day as the Great and Glorious Cloud collects, analyzes, and mines your entire life. Your wants, your interests, your needs, your quirks, your net worth, and just have everything delivered to your home/work cubicle as the Cloud decides what and when. Wouldn't that be great?
Walking around a store looking at my phone strikes me as a bad experience. Either use an app like Amazon to buy stuff online or walk into a store and open your eyes.
You probably won't be looking at your phone unless you are getting navigation information to stores (or items) of interest.
Say you are looking for shirts and lawnmowers -- you tell the app (select from a list). You can have the app show you how to get from where you are to the correct departments... or you can keep the phone in your pocket as you browse the store. As you approach the shirt or lawnmower department, a beacon (identifying same) will come in range and your app will receive a notification (vibrate and/or audible). You can ignore it if you like, just like any other notification, and leave the phone in your pocket.
A different notification (vibration/sound) could alert you to store specials, etc... In this case you might want to remove the phone from your pocket to retrieve the notification (or not). On receipt of a notification, Siri could tell you that there's a 20% in-store special on men's shirts...
A different notification (vibration/sound) could alert you to store specials, etc... In this case you might want to remove the phone from your pocket to retrieve the notification (or not). On receipt of a notification, Siri could tell you that there's a 20% in-store special on men's shirts...
Comments
Retail is dead. I will never go into a Macy's ever again. I was treated like crap last time I was in one. Buy everything I can online. Free ship, and in many cases, no tax.
I would buy groceries online as well, but it is actually easier and faster to plan a week's menu on paper, then zip to the store I've been using for 10 years. I know where everything is, and at a glance can compare sale items. Oddly enough, that's the one application that doesn't match online, but fairly, only because I am so familair with the store and products.
Bold prediction: retail in America will be a niche/ oddity in 50 years. Kinda like landlines and fax machines. They have a place, but only narrow applications.
I doubt that. Retail is and will be alive and well... it will 'cloudily' (e.g. Amazon)... But that's no different than what Macy's was 100 years ago... One hundred little shops inside one big one.
I see the next tick of groceries is 'concierge shopping' You make your menu/list on your home device.... upload it to the store, and what's on your list is bagged and in cool/room/warm storage and waiting for you at your estimated time of arrival.
Why... If you don't have shoppers in your store, you can make your store smaller and more efficient (think automation... conveyors with most goods in drop chute bins... "2 dozen free range eggs... bombs away!"). You eliminate the position of 'stocker' and effectively it's a QA and 'specialty picker.' and bagger/curbside delivery. Cart is weighed at each step and at the end for QA. You can still walk up to the counter and place your order (think carryout pizza), and they will pick it and give it to you.
If you don't think this will happen, Amazon Grocery Delivery will change your mind;-) (Fresh.amazon.com). If amazon is thinking of it, then someone like Walmart can do it now, although I think it will have to be a disruptive new force to do it
Again, this was what shopping for food was 100 years ago... but the counter became the choke point, as well corporate marketing demanding consumer exposure to the 'brand' (100 years ago, you bought 'green peas' now you got 'green giant','birdseye','seneca','Libby's', pic'n'fresh, krogers, etc. etc. etc).
Of course.
http://www.getelastic.com/beacons-and-the-age-of-micro-location-context/
Google beacon is going to be in kiosks all across Asia. As you walk buy a sidewalk vendor, you'll be notified of the opportunity to buy an Android video stick (nee Tablet) loaded with more Bruce Willis movies, using the fact that you downloaded Die Hard 2 the night before.
Aisle 13
well crap. like others, i'm hoping that it will be used to help me find what i'm looking for. but instead, right out of the gate, it's being used to track me and market to me. no thanks.
That logic I'll never understand.
First of all, it's not "tracking" you, it's just aware of when you enter a specific area. Second, it has to know this information if you want it to help you find something.
Furthermore...
1. You're in the store shopping, probably planning to purchase something.
2. You've installed the store's app on your mobile device.
3. You've opted in to allow the app access to your location data.
4. You've made lists of things you like/want.
If you're willing to do ALL of that, what the hell else is the store supposed to think you want?
On the flip side, I'll be concerned about bluetooth hacks trying to access my phone. There will be trade-offs for just about anything.
Sorry, but Google is also jumping on the Beacon bandwagon as is every other big retailer, advertiser and data tracking company. iBeacons is just Apple's implementation. BLE-enabled Android and Windows phones will be tracked just as surely as iPhones, and all of them on a much more personal and identifiable level than we probably want possible if we stopped to think about it.
Remember when cookie's were considered an offensive and intrusive tracking tool? We'll end up longing for the days when we thought those were our worst privacy concern.
The problem with Google is they are working with retailers to implement this at the OS level - meaning you could potentially be flamed with "ads" whether you've installed a specific app or not. Furthermore, Google, as they do with all other data, will use it to gather this "beacon" information so they can target ads at users.
That logic I'll never understand.
First of all, it's not "tracking" you, it's just aware of when you enter a specific area. Second, it has to know this information if you want it to help you find something.
Furthermore...
1. You're in the store shopping, probably planning to purchase something.
2. You've installed the store's app on your mobile device.
3. You've opted in to allow the app access to your location data.
4. You've made lists of things you like/want.
If you're willing to do ALL of that, what the hell else is the store supposed to think you want?
Very true. The customer has to essentially "opt-in" to all this so it's not like there is something nefarious going on here.
I also think there's a lot of hypocrisy going on here as everyone likes the information being mined, yet they turn around and scream "privacy" when it involves them.
Case in point... I live in the San Francisco bay area. We use an electronic toll system called Fastrak. Essentially it means that we don't have to stop to pay tolls at the bridges. Those little transmitters we stick to our windshields and dashboards are also used to feed into a system to provide real-time traffic conditions on all our roads here. That same data that everyone uses to check traffic on their maps programs. Lots of us use it. We don't really think twice about "the Man" using the info to track where I am at any one point in time.
I really think that if an individual whines about data collection practices like this, they should be banned from using any kind of publicly-gathered data since that feeds into their hysteria.
I like the iBeacon concept. It's inevitable I think.
So why not have audio alerts from your pocket? Either a preset tone or have Siri speak it to you. “Hey, you just passed the milk. Get 1% this time, fatty.”
Funny. Not that fat actually makes you fat, but that's another topic.
Wrong. I do it already with a shopping list app and its great.
'Wrong'. I love your overconfident proclamations.
A shopping list is one thing, but this is the store talking over your screen, that can't go well. Apple doing it in an Apple store is one thing, but one of these other guys getting access to your information and attention like that strikes me as something entirely different - in a bad way.
Minority Report is coming true.
This comes true if you install their shitty app. Otherwise they'll have to leave you alone or you'll (well me) can take your business somewhere that won't hassle you. This end up being the new 'as soon as I enter the store someone pounces on me'.
Of course they will. No one would expect any different. The retailers using beacons along with their partner advertisers/data aggregators/data analyzers will be doing the same thing. Even Apple.
This is all about discovering more precise information about you specifically and personally in order to get deeper into your pockets. Who you are, where you are, where you've been, what you were doing, what you've eaten, what you've bought, and where you're probably going next.
If you hate the relatively innocuous discovery that cookies offer....
There are existing systems that use IR or lasers to track people... but they don't know who you are -- you are just an anonymous dot on an indoor map of a store. If, say, three people hug each other then then separate, they can't differentiate among the 3 different dots.
BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) devices can be recognized individually if they are advertising their unique ID (UUID). Mainly these are used for beacons placed at fixed locations in a store. An iOS device can act as a mobile beacon if it advertises its unique ID (UUID). This is totally anonymous as the UUID has nothing to do with you or your device. You can generate a UUID in several ways -- go to:
http://www.uuidgenerator.net
Every time you reload the page it generates a different UUID. There is a very, very low probability that any two UUIDs will be the same.
So, when your iPhone runs an app that advertises a UUID -- it's unique... that's all. Another app, listening for advertisements detects that there's an unique UUID out there -- but doesn't know what it is or who you are -- just that the UUID is different than any other UUID out there. If you choose (via the app running in your iPhone) you can reveal more info about what kind of device you are, etc.
That's low-level BLE beacons.
Apple iBeacons are a much higher and much tighter implementation.
Your iPhone iBeacon app only listens for UUIDs you are [currently] looking for -- say Macy's, Nordstroms, etc. -- while ignoring Wal-Mart, Target. etc.
Your Phone app can, at your option, advertise your UUID (as defined previously) so you can be tracked, anonymously.
But Apple expects you to detect iBeacons at fixed locations in a store you are listening for (interested in) to alert you to things of interest to you. You can opt in for alerts on items of interest to you, ignore the alerts, or just stop listening.
Hopefully you will buy things (still anonymously)... At some point you will check out and pay for your purchases. if you want to remain anonymous pay cash, or via PayPal [or, in the future] the iTunes store... if not, pay by check or credit card.
In any case, you choose if you are tracked or identified.
I doubt that. Retail is and will be alive and well... it will 'cloudily' (e.g. Amazon)... But that's no different than what Macy's was 100 years ago... One hundred little shops inside one big one.
He meant online retail would take over retail completely.
You do... with Apple's implementation of iBeacons -- you're in total control!
You probably won't be looking at your phone unless you are getting navigation information to stores (or items) of interest.
Say you are looking for shirts and lawnmowers -- you tell the app (select from a list). You can have the app show you how to get from where you are to the correct departments... or you can keep the phone in your pocket as you browse the store. As you approach the shirt or lawnmower department, a beacon (identifying same) will come in range and your app will receive a notification (vibrate and/or audible). You can ignore it if you like, just like any other notification, and leave the phone in your pocket.
A different notification (vibration/sound) could alert you to store specials, etc... In this case you might want to remove the phone from your pocket to retrieve the notification (or not). On receipt of a notification, Siri could tell you that there's a 20% in-store special on men's shirts...
A different notification (vibration/sound) could alert you to store specials, etc... In this case you might want to remove the phone from your pocket to retrieve the notification (or not). On receipt of a notification, Siri could tell you that there's a 20% in-store special on men's shirts...
And therein lies the rub.