A shopping centre in Adelaide is going to begin tracking the movements of their shoppers using mobile phone signals in an attempt to improve the shopping experience in their mall.

The shopping centre won’t get any personal details but it will help measure foot-traffic and therefore facilitate better decisions to be made around pop-up stalls and shop layout to create a more ‘personalized’ shopping experience.

The benefits could be that the shopping centre gets a better understanding of the path shoppers are taking going from store to store. It could help with knowing how many shoppers are using the escalator vs the lift and might encourage shopping centre management to  install more lifts for parents with prams and strollers.

It may also help with shopping centre layout, such as placing stores together which have the same shoppers frequenting them.

Unfortunately, my shopping trips aren’t very exciting… Woolies, Fruit Shop, Bathroom, Butcher, Carpark…  wow.

So there isn’t really a privacy issue in knowing where I shop, but do you think having our movements tracked is the first step to a ‘Big Brother’ scenario?

What do you think about this? Good for shopper’s experience or a little creepy?

Read the original article here: http://www.news.com.au/national/rundle-mall-set-to-track-shoppers-as-they-shop-using-mobile-phone-technology/story-fndo4dzn-1226555480389

Are you in your shopping prime?

According to a recent news article women are in their shopping prime when they are 57!

57? That’s a good few year of warming up before one reaches their shopping pinnacle.

When I was 9, my parents gave me $20 so I could choose any outfit I wanted. We were in my local Target and I remember walking through the kids clothing department and choosing a little denim overall number with an olive green striped skivvy to match. Not my best outfit, but I remember the surreal rush of ecstasy that consumed me as I discovered my love for shopping…

Since that time that shopping rush has been my therapy through work stresses, broken relationships and extreme times of boredom. That little thrill of finding the perfect dress, the excitement of discovering your favourite branded jeans on sale…  you would think I would have already reached my shopping prime… but apparently there are many more years of shopping training before I reach the apex of shopping mastery.

Do you think you’ve reached your shopping prime?

Picky partner, home-loving husband, bored brother, sporty dad? Whichever guy you’re buying for this Father’s Day, we know men can be notoriously difficult to shop for. So here’s our 7 best-kept secrets to celebrate your man with the perfect pressie.

1. Shop for his favourite food A home-cooked meal, how mum cooked when he was a kid …. a favourite dish, but this time cooked by you, brings those memories back. Cook his favourite food (with his favourite drink, of course) - the best present of all. Shop for his favourite drinks on Lasoo.

2. Shop for the outdoors Not all guys are sporty - but … they all harbour dreams of heroic wins on the football field, or wherever. If his life isn’t just the HD TV/remote, then sporting gifts are always much appreciated. If his glory days are long gone, then buy a pressie to enjoy the outdoors more, like a portable barbecue. Shop for sports and outdoor pressies on Lasoo.

3. Shop for the kid inside Yes, the kids get the gaming toys at Christmas and birthdays, but don’t forget he is still a kid at heart, too. All guys love gadgets to play with - so think of grown-up tech toys like a tough mobile for a tradie hubby, tablet computer for a techhead mate. Shop for gaming gear on Lasoo.

4. Shop the shoes for him Many guys feel clueless about shoes - yet they make such a dress statement about a guy. Buy a pair of best brogues to polish, a pair of RM boots to get that country feeling… even new trainers will go down well. Find more men’s fashion on Lasoo.

5. Shop for his jocks Men have been wearing underwear since 13thC, and some guys look like they’re still wearing the same pair! Shop for his inner wear - boxers usually go down well, even a men’s bikini will be a winner if his trousers are skinny. And if you want to shop for his celebrity within (see No 6), then buy one of the many celeb/designer pairs. Find more men’s fashion on Lasoo.

6. Shop for his celebrity within Who are his heroes? The celeb (or movie) he admires, TV stars he watches, sporting icons etc, all can guide you heaps in your pressie-buying spree. Find his celeb’s fragrance, his sporting hero’s biography, even a Nespresso if he likes George Clooney - or maybe that’s one better left for the girls! Find more men’s fashion on Lasoo.

7. Shop for his mind He’ll always thank you for valuing his mind …buy a book by his favourite author, a book on his favourite hobby, the book his favourite movie is based on … show him that you know, and appreciate, his masculine mind. And if he’s really not into books, then perhaps a camera for his creative mind. Find digital cameras on Lasoo.

And don’t forget to enter our Celebration of  Man competition!  $6,000 of prizes to be won, starting 22nd August, ends 30th September 2011.

All you have to do to enter our Lasoo Celebration of  Man competition, is to select a product from the weekly Secret Category, and tell us in 25 words or less (under your chosen product on the Lasoo website in Leave a Comment box) why a man would love the product you’ve chosen.

Each week, the best answer will win a $1,000 Lasoo Gift card.

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Check out real living mag - on the newsstand and online at www.realliving.com.au It’s real modern Australian living, pages full of quirky home ideas for your more imaginative renovator (to copy, of course) that don’t cost you a fortune.

They always manage to fill the pages with really different homes - the ones where the owners have gone out of their way to be crafty and clever with minimal dollars - in the Christmas issue wining house owner Camila had brightened up her empty Victorian fireplace with a disco ball! The homes are a little bohemian - like Scandi style on a budget (basically go to Ikea and get creative) or the modern vintage look (garage sales, naturally).

The food’s also really easy to cook (they use the lovely tagline `life is too short to stuff a mushroom’ - I agree!) and the real living stylists find really pretty accessories to fill the mag pages with every month. Well - the good news is that now you can head to their online store www.realshopping.com.au and buy fabrics, home accessories, furniture, jewellery, stationary and lots of stuff for kids. They want to hear from you too - so if you’ve bagged a bargain you can share that online.