CUTTING edge technology is being used to help improve Middlesbrough town centre as a shopping and leisure destination.
Shoppers and regular visitors to Middlesbrough town centre are being invited to take part in a new consumer behaviour study using their smartphones.
Middlesbrough Council is working with market research experts Indestinate who have developed GeoTask to study the behaviour patterns of people as they walk around the town centre, visiting shops, cafes, offices and events.
Anyone can join the GeoTask panel by downloading the free GeoTask Location Research App via the Android Play Store or iPhone App store or by visiting www.middlesbrough.gov.uk/geotask
The App collects panel members’ anonymous location data, and in exchange enables those taking part to earn points for rewards and prizes including cash via PayPal and gift cards for Costa Coffee, Marks & Spencer, Boots and Currys PC World.
The app runs unobtrusively in the background, using GPS location data to record phone movements.
The app and the data from the phone will then be combined with data from hundreds of other devices to provide valuable insights into how people behave in Middlesbrough.
The data will be used to help shape and improve the experience provided to shoppers and visitors in future.
It will help the town understand what makes people come to Middlesbrough, what makes them stay, what they like and dislike as they move around and whether marketing activity in certain locations affects their behaviour.
Councillor Charlie Rooney, Middlesbrough Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration, said: “This type of data will be increasingly important in future and will help Middlesbrough compete successfully with other towns.
“The study will help us understand the motivations of our customers as they move around the town and what influences their behaviour.
“I urge local people to download the app and help us collect this valuable and interesting information.”
Any data provided through the app will be in an aggregated and anonymous form so individual users can’t be identified. Participants can opt out at any time by simply uninstalling the app and they will never receive any marketing from any other companies.
To download the GeoTask app please visit www.middlesbrough.gov.uk/geotask