Zone Tracking System for Retail Media Targeting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Customers often fail to engage with coupons and offers inside a store, as they may not recognize their relevance or take the time to clip them, limiting the store's ability to influence purchasing behavior without price discounts.
Innovation Solution
A zone tracking system using 802.11 wireless networks to track customer movement and deliver targeted offers based on location within the store, employing RF fingerprinting to identify zones and associate offers with specific items or areas, allowing for real-time and pre-targeted promotions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional paper-based coupons are used, then customers can access promotions, but customer engagement remains low due to lack of recognition and convenience
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical paper-based coupon system with an electronic notification system. Instead of physically clipping and carrying paper coupons, customers receive digital notifications on mobile devices when they are in proximity to relevant products or zones in the store, eliminating the manual clipping and carrying process while maintaining promotion delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a mobile device as an intermediary between the store's promotion system and the customer. The mobile device receives location data from the store's tracking system and delivers targeted promotions, acting as a mediator that enables automated, context-aware coupon delivery without requiring customer action to clip or search for coupons.
2Productivity
If the store delivers offers based on customer location, then purchasing behavior can be influenced, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent leverages the customer's existing mobile device, which already possesses GPS, accelerometer, and processor capabilities, to perform the tracking and offer delivery functions. Instead of requiring a dedicated complex tracking system, the invention utilizes the universal functionality of smartphones that customers already carry, thereby reducing overall system complexity while maintaining behavioral influence capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables the customer's mobile device to self-determine its location using built-in sensors (GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope) and self-process the logic for receiving and displaying relevant promotions. The device autonomously communicates with the store's system, eliminating the need for complex external tracking infrastructure while achieving the goal of behavior-influencing through location-based offers.
3Loss of time
If real-time location tracking is implemented, then offers can be delivered at the right moment, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic location updates rather than continuous tracking. The mobile device determines its location at intervals (e.g., when entering new store zones or at scheduled times) and communicates with the store system only when location changes occur or at predetermined intervals, reducing energy consumption from constant transmission while still enabling timely offer delivery when customers are in relevant zones.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method of zone tracking for delivery of media to customers within a store is disclosed. Zone tracking enables targeting of media to at least one electronic device both in the presence of as well as in the absence of customer triggers by monitoring the physical location of the electronic device associated with the customer in the store. The zone tracking system and method preferably use a combination of at least one location-tracking server and at least one access point to track a customer's present location within a store as well as items in the vicinity of the customer.