#891 stalked

I am a regular Kohl's shopper and so when they offered a new loyalty program (Yes2You), I signed up.  They encouraged people to link their Yes2You reward card to the new Kohl's app, and I had planned to do that, too.

Then I read an article that said that Kohl's new strategy is to use "personalized marketing" via beacons installed in their stores to respond to the Kohl's app on the customer's smartphone.  The beacons will deliver digital offers, directed to where the customer is in the store, and based on past buying habits.  The company has invested $1 billion on technology to do this.

Think of all the blouses and towels they need to sell to recoup $1 billion and just break even.  I decided I did not need to be part of this buying frenzy.  Nor did I need Kohl's computer to know where I was in their store, so I will take my chances that I am missing out on the deal of a lifetime!

As technology becomes more and more pervasive, it also becomes increasingly intrusive.  Think about whether the dollars you could save outweigh the dollars you might be tempted to spend, not to mention the cost of your lost privacy.  There's no such thing as free.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com

@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

Source:  Kohl's eyes personalized marketing by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in the Telegraph Herald, November 2, 2014, p. 3B