Cookies are small files that websites store on your computer so they can identify and remember you. They can do useful things, like keep you signed in to a site, or annoying things, like make what seems like every ad bar across the entire Internet show you ankle boots after just one Zappos search. What if that technology could follow you into real life?

That’s the dream of one property company in Finland, which has a vested interest in keeping real-life malls healthy and solvent. They conducted a real-life test of the physical cookie, which they’re now marketing as a keychain called Sponda. Their pitch to mall owners? Malls can stay ahead of e-commerce by tracking and advertising to shoppers just like websites do. Once everyone is disappointed that “physical cookie” doesn’t mean that it’s snack time,

The transponders aren’t registered to the person’s identity and address, but instead sit there and gather data while the person browses and makes purchases. Mall billboards and store displays can then customize displays to shoppers as they walk around. This is what phone-based services like iBeacon would like to do, but they’re limited to zapping offers to users on their phones.

‘Physical cookie’ could help malls fight back against Amazon [Mashable]
Physical Cookie [Sponda]

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