Consumers More Comfortable with Stores Using Location Data

According to a recent study by PlaceCast, a location-based marketing firm, U.S. adults trust their grocery store with their personal information more than they do Facebook, Google, and Amazon, or even their cellphone provider.

Also recently, Facebook and Wal-Mart met to help and support each other with testing new and innovative products and technologies to reach Wal-Mart customers, specifically the 17 million fans on Wal-Mart's Facebook page. Expanding its reach online is key for Wal-Mart as shoppers increasingly shop on their mobiles. Both Facebook and Wal-Mart may want to pay attention to this study.

Specifically, the study shows:

• 81% of consumers were comfortable with  stores using info about past purchases to give them coupons tailored to their shopping needs. 
• Only 33% of respondents were comfortable with Facebook using profile information to target ads. 
• 50% of US adults age 18-34 say they are comfortable with their location being used to send them offers for nearby stores. 
• 27% of respondents aged 55 and over were comfortable receiving ads based on their location.

All this implies that consumers are more comfortable using retail and shopping apps from the stores that they go to and 50% of these consumers would not mind being located indoors to get offers, etc. See some of these indoor navigation shopping apps here.