Poll: 50.7% of Consumers Would Trade Location Privacy for Discounts

Share this:

More than half of consumers would happily exchange their privacy for discounts, according to a Street Fight poll conducted this month.

The poll, which included 1,000 anonymous U.S. consumers who own handheld devices, found that 50.7 percent would consent to a smartphone app that followed their every move if they were to receive half off of all store purchases. 61% of the survey respondents were women. Of the total respondents, those inclined to accommodate ambient location tracking included 61% of individuals aged 18-34. The poll was conducted on behalf of Street Fight by third-party opinions website Toluna.

If you could save 50% off of your purchases at every store you visited, would you consent to a smartphone app that followed your actions at all times?

The results come as many startups seek to leverage smartphones’ increasingly sophisticated tracking abilities, following Foursquare into the LBS market.

Last year, daily deals giant Groupon entered the space, partnering with LBS check-in app Loopt, recently acquired by Green Dot Corp., and launching Groupon Now! to offer location-aware deals on the go (with mixed results).

Foursquare first cracked the LBS nut, registering more than 10 million users and $50 million in Series C funding by June 2011, bringing its estimated value to approximately $600 million. Newer startups in the space, such as Glassmap, are cautiously exploring partnerships with local merchants to market to consumers. It’s a healthy target market for the LBS sector: By 2020, geo-targeted advertising is projected to generate more than $100 million, according to the McKinsey Global Institute.

But even as 30 percent of U.S. adults employ a location-based service via their mobile phone, tablet or automobile, indicating a market that is growing, the FCC has begun inquiries into resulting matters of privacy that may have wide-ranging impact on devices and services that rely on location data in their consumer offerings.

View more results from the study:

If you could save 50% off of your purchases at every store you visited, would you consent to a smartphone app that followed your actions at all times (24/7)?

Results by gender.

Results by age.

 Results by education level.

 Patrick Duprey is an intern at Street Fight.

Street Fight Summit ticket prices go up 66% on Wednesday!  Buy now and save $500!

Tags: