Downtown business owners try to keep smiling amid pandemic - 1736 Magazine, Summer 2020

TRACKING CUSTOMERS
FOLLOWING THE
DIGITAL FOOTPRINT
An Augusta University student talks on his cell phone at the Summerville Campus. Technology that tracks a cell phone’s location is
being used by a Birmingham, Ala., company to analyze traffic patterns in the urban core with the goal of attracting new retail and
restaurants. Only the phone’s location is pinged, not information about the person. [FILE/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]
DDA’s new retail recruiter uses cell phone data to tell where
people are coming from — and where they’re going
Just about everyone has a cell phone
these days, from senior citizens to
children, but most are unaware those
phones leave a trace everywhere
their owners go.
Tracking those digital footprints is
now possible at Augusta’s Downtown
Development Authority.
Earlier this year the agency contracted
with Birmingham, Ala.-based NextSite, a
retail consulting firm whose specialty is analyzing
cell phone data to see where people are
coming from and where they are going.
The company doesn’t know who you are;
they just follow the “pings” created by your
cell phone or mobile device through your
service provider’s GPS tracking system,
By DAMON CLINE
when your phone moves from one cellular
tower to another, when you connect to a
Wi-Fi network and so on.
“All of this data is anonymous,” said
Chuck Branch, NextSite’s managing partner.
“I don’t know who the end user is, who controls
that mobile device. We’re simply tracking
consumer travel patterns and customer
journeys.”
The analysis of metro Augusta’s consumer
travel patterns can be used to target specific
types of businesses that would do well in the
city’s central business district.
“Our strategy is going to be leveraging
the current vibrancy of downtown to recruit
additional retailers and restaurant concepts,”
Branch said. “(The data) has signifi-
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