Feel Like A Deal?

Research recently released showed that some 14 million wearable tech devices were shipped last year, with the market for these products set to climb to $6 Billion by 2016.

Right now, the bulk of wearable tech devices are in the health field – units to measure blood pressure, blood glucose levels, distance walked or calories expended in a day.  The Nike FuelBand bracelet, which helps wearers reach daily targets for fitness, is a leading example of this.

But, given the pace of innovation, glasses with monitors embedded and expanded function wearable computers are not too far behind.

The potential applications for this technology are staggering, but one area they most certainly could revolutionize would be retailing.

Imagine a wearable tech device that detected you were hungry, searched using GPS what restaurants or food service stores were nearby, identified coupons and deals available, downloaded them to your device and then let you buy them with you embedded digitized wallet.  How about if it detected you were cold, found a good sweater retailer nearby, downloaded a coupon and …voila!  Talk about marketing relevance and delivering the right promotional deal at the right time.

Deals and innovative promotions are one of the most effective forms of marketing today because they are relevant to consumer needs, but wearable tech could take this to a whole new level.  With them, when you get an itch for a deal, you can get it scratched, right away, with no effort at all.

image credit: nike

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A serial CEO and innovation speaker, Dean DeBiase is the Chairman and CEO of entertainment.com, co-founder of boardroominnovation.com and Innovation Excellence, and a co-author of The Big Moo.