MOBILE DEVICE INITIATED CONCIERGE EXPERIENCE

1 . A method for providing a mobile device initiated concierge experience, the method comprising:

determining that a mobile device is within an area of interest;

interacting with said mobile device to determine an identifying characteristic;

searching a database for a customer profile related to said identifying characteristic; and

when the customer profile is identified, providing said customer profile to a store associate via a computer device, wherein said customer profile allows a store associate to identify a user of the mobile device and provide the user with a personalized shopping experience.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing said customer profile to said store associate via said computer device selected from the group consisting of: a store associate's mobile device, a store's point of sale (POS) system, or a store's mobile device.

3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

pinging the mobile device to determine that the mobile device is within an area of interest.

4 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

using a beacon to determine that the mobile device is within an area of interest.

5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a geo-fenced area at least at a portion of the area of interest; and

determining that the mobile device is within the area of interest when the mobile device enters into the geo-fenced area.

6 . The method of claim 5 further comprising:

providing the geo-fenced area at a boundary about a store and a parking lot associated with the store.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying characteristic is selected from the group consisting of: a mobile device phone number, a mobile device identifier, a user's name, a user's store account number, a user's store rewards number, and a user identifier provided by an application operating on the mobile device.

8 . A mobile device concierge system comprising:

a location determiner to determine that a mobile device is within an area of interest;

a device identifier to interact with said mobile device and obtain an identifying characteristic from said mobile device when a location of said mobile device is determined to be within said area of interest;

a customer profile obtainer to search a customer database for a customer profile associated with said identifying characteristic from said mobile device; and

when the customer profile is identified, a customer profile provider provides said customer profile to a store associate via a computer device, wherein said customer profile is utilized by a store associate to positively identify a user of the mobile device and provide the user with a personalized shopping experience.

9 . The system of claim 8 wherein the location determiner is selected from the group consisting of: a pinging of the mobile device, a push interaction with a beacon, and a pull interaction with a beacon.

10 . The system of claim 8 wherein the location determiner is selected from the group consisting of: a location broadcast from the mobile device, and a location broadcast from an app operating on the mobile device.

11 . The system of claim 8 wherein the location determiner monitors a geo-fenced area and interacts with the mobile device after the mobile device enters into a geo-fenced area.

12 . The system of claim 11 wherein a shopping incentive offer is broadcast to the mobile device after the mobile device enters into the geo-fenced area.

13 . The system of claim 8 wherein the identifying characteristic from said mobile device is selected from the group consisting of: a phone number, a device identifier, a user's name, a user's store account number, a user's store rewards number, and a user identifier provided by an application operating on the mobile device.

14 . The system of claim 8 wherein the customer profile includes customer information selected from the group consisting of: a user's picture, a user's description, a user's name, a user's store account number, a user's store rewards number, a purchase history, and an important date for the user.

15 . The system of claim 8 wherein the customer profile includes customer information provided from sources in the group consisting of: a user's purchase history, an associate provided input, and a user provided input.

16 . A method for providing a concierge experience, the method comprising:

utilizing a beacon, to monitor an area of interest for a mobile device;

determining with said beacon that a mobile device has entered the area of interest;

utilizing an identifying information from the mobile device to obtain a user profile related to a user of said mobile device; and

providing the user profile to a store associate via a store associate's mobile device, said store associate utilizing information in the user profile to identify said user and provide a personalized shopping experience to said user.

17 . The method of claim 16 further comprising:

receiving a device identifier associated with a mobile device as the identifying information; and

utilizing the device identifier to search for the user profile related to the user.

18 . The method of claim 16 further comprising:

deploying the beacon in a physical location within a retail store.

19 . The method of claim 16 further comprising:

utilizing said beacon to establish a geo-fenced area about said area of interest, said geo-fenced area comprising:

at least a retail store; and

a parking lot associated with said retail store; and

providing a store visit incentive to the mobile device when a location of the mobile device is in said parking lot associated with said retail store.

20 . The method of claim 19 wherein the store visit incentive is selected from the group consisting of: a text message, and a notification from a store's application operating on the mobile device.