Facebook has introduced a tool that will give retailers greater access to information about consumers near their stores. The catch is that all the information on those individuals is aggregated and anonymous.
In a blog entry, Facebook said its Page Insights tool now has a new tab with information that tells the aggregate demographics and trends associated with people nearby a store.
"Businesses can discover the neighborhood's busiest days of the week and times of day, so they know when people are most likely to visit their store," Facebook wrote. "And they can see aggregate demographics of the people nearby, including age, gender, tourist and local residents. So, if their business serves tourists or people of a certain age group, they know when they have the best opportunity to connect with those people."
According to Advertising Age, trend information will be provided over the past week, month or quarter. Ages are broken down into several segments: 18-to-24, 25-to-34, 35-to-44, 45-to-54, 55-to-64 and people over 65 years old. Gender will also be quantified.
Source: Facebook
Using Facebook data to determine where someone lives and uses the service, the tool will gauge the ratio of tourists to locals. Anonymous Facebook users can be viewed within 150, 450 and 1,500 meters of a store.
Wrote Facebook, "Insights of this kind empower businesses to tailor their marketing to the people nearby and drive more people to their store."
Facebook also said that, for the first time, advertisers will be able see the percentage of people nearby who have seen their ad.
In late October, Advertising Age reported that cellphone carriers are similarly exploring using their mobile data in an anonymous and aggregated way for marketing purposes. Such data being tested includes offering real-time heat maps revealing where store visitors go home at night, listing the sites people visit while mobile surfing, and linking location and demographic data with shoppers' web browsing history.
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