A study of users via GPS enabled mobile phones showed some interesting insights; for example, those who went to Whole Foods are twice as likely to work out as people who shopped elsewhere. And while half of Starbucks users went to Dunkin’ Donuts,  two-thirds of Dunkin’ Donuts customers went to Starbucks.

“Armed with this level of insight, competitors in this category could consider what drivers, including coffee taste, product mix, location atmosphere and customer experience, contribute to this behavioral preference,” says the report.

Of course, privacy concerns mean that incentives will likely have to be given to users, especially older ones. A lack of focus can also make such a study unmanageable. “Stringing together the GPS paths of thousands of participants, overlaying time of day, day of week, as well as targeting advertising by content, quickly becomes a large task,” warns the study.

Source: MediaPost {link no longer active}