Here it is: I am NOT sold on Location Based Services and honestly I do not think I ever will be from a consumers perspective. Consider our discussion of Blippy, I know people get excited when they buy an expensive item, but I just do not see the allure of informing everyone that you spent $400 on a pair of boots. And thats just the big stuff who is really going to be interested in following your day to day purchases, I realize corporations could benefit from following company spending but, I honestly do not need to know that my neighbor spent $10.50 at the grocery story and $5 on their skim chi latte, in my mind reading a digital recipe is not that riveting. Obviously, digitizing and projecting ones purchases from a marketing perspective is a veritable gold mine of information that says a lot about you as a customer, but in my mind you are (as the consumer) not receiving any added value from signing up for Blippy. Marketers benefit, but what do you get? Announcing to the world you just bought a new LCD 48 inch TV? In providing marketers with our consuming information we are just giving them more information so they can try and try to sell us more stuff. With Blippy specifically I just do not see the allure because you are fostering an asymmetric relationship, you as the consumer are giving your information without receiving anything, not a discount, not a coupon just, maybe bragging rights - if anyone actually cares enough to read your Blippy page period. This seems harsh, but to me Blippy seems drive and be driven by American consumerism, everyone buys stuff, but does the world really need to know about it?
Beyond Blippy, however I am still not convinced that these services are the wave of my future. In my mind I really do not see the added value of these services beyond the dollar discount here and there. Sure its nice when you can get a discount, but for someone who does not shop religiously at the same stores or have a coffee ritual that I live and die by, I just do not see the need. Just because my phone informs me that the Gap is having a sale or that Ben and Jerry's is offering a $1 dollar scoop night deal, does not mean I am going to stop what I am doing and rush over to take advantage of the discount. While some people might have time for "a game layer on top of the world," I am more of a point A to point B type and LBS seems to play into spontaneity. I cannot foresee myself walking out the door, especially in my suburban small hometown and seeing where the winds of LBS take me.
Not to mention old fashion discounts still work just fine. For those places I do shop at regularly, like CVS and Shaws Market I have a loyalty card, which in my mind gives me a discount or free things without a cell phone and without spouting my purchasing information to the world. Not to mention, my loyalty card is giving me a pointed discount, I arrive at the cash register and items on sale will immediately factored into my total bill. I am not being sent to CVS to take advantage of the $1 off on shampoo when what I really want is a sandwich from the deli next door. To be sure, I acknowledge that by using a loyalty card I am giving a specific company my information, but my loyalty card does not keep track of how much I spent with a company's competitor. While the Holy Grail in marketing might very well lie in LBS as a consumer this just seems creepy. Our world is so digitized and so much of our purchasing history is available online, but to give firms that much more information about my spending habits at their store AND at their competitor's just seems very big brother.
I also have to wonder is there ever a flaw in having too much information? If a firm knows how you spend your money and where, does it really help them when all other firms have the same information. Knowing that you buy to bagel in one place and your coffee in another, is a company really going to be successful in winning you over when your competition is fighting just as fiercely? I also wonder if this will be the undoing of small, individually owned businesses. If a mom and pop shop is competing with the resources of a large company, who can afford to offer a discount to entice their customers away from the mom and pop shop, how can a small shop compete with that? Small individually owned businesses do not have the luxury to cut their prices or offer weekly discounts.
Call me a skeptic, but for my personal consuming habits LBS do not seem to be apart of my future. What are your thoughts on signing up, if you are not already?
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