Today NTT DoCoMo announced that they have developed a system which uses RFID to predict consumer behaviour while they are visiting shopping malls, showrooms and amusement parks and use this prediction to offer them targeted marketing messages.

As the consumer visits various shops and locations, their mobile sends RFID tags to a server. The server than runs software to predict what the consumer is doing and sends them information relevant to their situation.

In an example provided by DoCoMo, a consumer who is searching for a pair of shoes visits shoe shops A, B and C. The server guesses that this is what the consumer is doing on the basis of the RFID tags it receives from shops A, B and C and then sends the consumer special offers from shop D which they have yet to visit. The service even offers coupons for restaurants and coffee shops to consumers when it deems they must be getting tired from visiting shoe shops A, B, C and D!

DoCoMo plans to test the system in a single shopping mall in Yokohama between the 13th and 26th September, but have no firm future roll-out plans at present.

# posted by Jan Kuczynski @ 12:40 pm