Digital Landscape: Ethical Considerations and Business Impact Report

This report delves into the multifaceted digital landscape, analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of location-based advertising and M-commerce. It explores how location-based services, such as way-finding, geonotification, geofencing, asset tracking, and analytics, can benefit Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The report also examines the ethical considerations surrounding businesses' use of location data, emphasizing data protection, privacy, misuse of information, the importance of user permission, and the risks of hacking. It highlights the importance of ethical practices in leveraging location-based services and mobile commerce. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the digital landscape, including the latest trends and challenges.

The Digital Landscape

Table of Contents
Advantages/disadvantages of location-based advertising communications....................................3
Advantages/disadvantages of M-Commerce over E-Commerce.....................................................4
Location-Based services could benefit a typical SME....................................................................5
Ethical considerations around businesses knowing every ‘place’ we visit.....................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

Advantages/disadvantages of location-based advertising communications
Location based advertising is a form of advertisement in which mobile advertising is
integrated with location based services. With this technology businesses can pinpoint consumer
location and on the basis of that are sent push notifications and provide location specific
advertising. As the video shows a girl passing by a shoe store is sent a notification that there is a
offer for her on shoes. This attracts customers towards buying products of the business.
Advantages of location based advertising
Permission-based mobile marketing- This is one of the advantages of location-based
advertising communication (Budihal, Kumari and Saroja, 2019). It requires permission of the
audience and this is a very important way in which businesses can identify right audience that
businesses can target for different offerings and communication.
High engagement- Engagement probability of location-based advertising is comparatively. This
is because this does not require additional efforts from the side of customers, they can identify
that they have offer for them in the nearest shop or store or business location. This is because
when customers are sent messages generally they require making efforts in order to utilise offers
by the businesses. This is not there in location based advertising.
100% visibility- this means that in location based advertising visibility of the offer and
businesses both are 100%. This is one of the biggest advantage of this form of advertising. This
is because this connects location of audience of potential customers and location of businesses
together which ensures complete visibility of the business as well as their offerings and value.
Higher rates for opening push notifications- This is another advantage of location based
advertising, that it has higher rates for opening compared to normal messages. Higher opening
refers to high consideration and this helps in higher conversion rate for the business.
Disadvantages of location based advertising
Opt-In Requirements- This is one of the disadvantage of this form of advertising. Opt-in
requirements refer to need for location technology, in which it is important that users have

activated their location in their phone (Samarin, 2020). In addition to this, this form of
advertising also requires that they give verified apps access to their location.
Non-Smartphone Users- This is another disadvantage or limitation of this form of advertising
that only smart phone users can be communicate. Business will not be able to communicate those
who are non-Smartphone users even when they are right audience for a business.
Advantages/disadvantages of M-Commerce over E-Commerce
E-commerce refers to practice of selling and purchasing goods in which transactions
takes place electronically with help of internet. M-commerce on the other hand is an extension of
E-commerce in which transactions takes place through mobile device. Increasing use of mobile
has increased transactions through mobile and M-commerce and in addition to this it has several
benefits of over E-Commerce. These advantages are-
Mobility- This is first benefit of M-Commerce over E-Commerce in this customers can make
transactions anywhere with just having their mobile with them and with a touch of button
(Shrivastava, Prakash and RATNA, 2019). Along with this several types of information remains
available to customers and all they need is connection to internet.
Rapid and varied purchases- This means that M-Commerce offers different types of and wide
range of payment options through which customers can make fast and secured transactions. In
addition to this customers can also download different types of mobile apps and check-out
different options and can also compare availability of one product on different sites and
applications altogether in less time on click of a button.
Omnichannel- This is marketing practice that refers to creating a seamless customer experiences
that encompasses different communication channels. This involves using mobility of M-
Commerce for the advantage of customers in which marketers or businesses can connect
different channels of communication for creating a seamless experience for customers.
Push notifications- This is a direct notification that businesses can send to customers through
their apps. This increases visibility and different offers that are sent to them also help in
increasing conversion.

Disadvantages of M-Commerce over E-Commerce are-
Ad Fraud- This is a disadvantage of M-Commerce because ad-frauds are more prevalent in M-
Commerce compared to E-Commerce. This is because majority of the marketers lacks active
fraud prevention in their mobile marketing.
Cost- This is also one of the disadvantages of this in which smaller businesses can not develop
mobile application because it is very costly (Sharma and Mandloi, 2018). Along with cost
development of app also requires time and resources which create difficulty for small businesses.
Privacy- In order to successfully implement M-Commerce and for omnichannel it is very
important to collect data of customers and can create difficulty in maintaining privacy of data
and other information of customers.
Different advantages and disadvantages were discussed and among this mobility is very
important advantage of M-Commerce. This is because it facilitates transactions and one does not
need to be at particular place and also have a desktop.
Among different disadvantages Ad Fraud is one of the most important disadvantages because
they can misguide customers when they are using M-Commerce.
Location-Based services could benefit a typical SME
Way-finding- This is a location based service that refers to information system and that guides
people through physical environment and enhance their understanding and experience of the
space. Way-finding is very important in complex built environments such as urban buildings and
Way-findings helps individuals in finding the way in such complex buildings.
Geonotification- This is a service that allows delivering relevant, well-timed location based
push notification to audience of the company (Huang and et.al., 2018). In these location-based
services virtual boundaries are set around a specific locations and this is then utilized to trigger
message delivery as soon as someone enters into the zone where virtual boundaries are set. In
this businesses can send notification about nearby shops and stores.

Geofencing- Geofencing is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area. A geo-fence
could be dynamically generated. This is also a location based service in which an app or other
software uses GPS, RFID, Wi-Fi or cellular to trigger a pre-programmed action when a mobile
device RFID. This also helps in getting information about nearby attractions and exhibits.
Asset Tracking- Asset tracking refers to the method of tracking physical assets that involves
either scanning barcode, labels attached to an asset or this can also be done by using GPS, BLE,
or RFID which broadcast their location. This technology uses radio technology and
transmitter/receiver principles. Using these companies can monitor and find equipments and
improve organization.
Analytics- This is another location based service in which business can use analytics to improve
their services and also become able to improve customer experience and fulfill their
requirements.
This can be used by the Verdant Leisure that is a holiday park company operating in
Scotland and north of England. This is a small organization in which these locations based
services can be used for different purposes (Chen and et.al., 2017). With help of these locations
based services this organization can also improve and facilitate customer experiences and those
who are using services of small company.
Ethical considerations around businesses knowing every ‘place’ we visit
Location based services and linking marketing with these services has enabled several
activities that are not ethical. This means that data is being used for the purpose of individual
objectives of businesses without considering impact of such activities on those whose data has
been collected by means of location based services.
Data Protection and privacy- This is one of the most important ethical consideration around
business. This means that when business connect with audience by means of knowing their
location, it is very important that organisations ensure that data of consumers or audiences is safe
and well protected. Before collecting data it is also important that permission from the users is
taken before knowing their location and collecting data about them.

Avoid misusing information- There are incidences in which organisations and businesses used
real-time location data of users and audiences to other businesses (Yallop and Aliasghar, 2020).
This is a completely unethical act and it is very important that when businesses are collecting
data of customers they ensure that data is not used with wrong intention which might harm
interest of consumers and users. Other than this, business should also ensure that data that they
collected is not being used in any way which is unethical or is not right on the basis of ethical
values.
Taking Permission from users- This is also one of the important ethical consideration in which
businesses are required to collect data but it is important that they take permission from users
that they are using their location data. This means that there are incidences in which businesses
track consumers and collected their location data without their information and such cases are
completely unethical activities.
Hacking- This is also an ethical issue that is associated with location based services (Greenwood
and Freeman, 2018). Hacking refers to an act in which individual or organisations access to data
of other business by wrong means. In other words, this is also an act of unauthorised access. It is
a completely unethical activity and should be avoided by organisations.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Budihal, S.V., Kumari, B. and Saroja, V.S., 2019. User Location-Based Adaptive Resource
Allocation for ICI Mitigation in MIMO-OFDMA. In International Conference on
Computer Networks and Communication Technologies (pp. 203-215). Springer,
Singapore.
Chen, L and et.al., 2017. Robustness, security and privacy in location-based services for future
IoT: A survey. IEEE Access. 5. pp.8956-8977.
Greenwood, M. and Freeman, R.E., 2018. Deepening ethical analysis in business ethics. Journal
of Business Ethics. 147(1). pp.1-4.
Huang, H and et.al., 2018. Location based services: ongoing evolution and research
agenda. Journal of Location Based Services. 12(2). pp.63-93.
Samarin, M., 2020. Indoor Positioning for Location-Based Applications.
Sharma, A. and Mandloi, U., 2018. M-commerce: A new way of Commerce in
India. International Research Journal of Management Science & Technology. 9(4).
Shrivastava, M., Prakash, D. and RATNA, V., 2019. M-Commerce: Meaning, Evolution, and
Growth. Apple Academic Press. p.1.
Yallop, A.C. and Aliasghar, O., 2020. No business as usual: a case for data ethics and data
governance in the age of coronavirus. Online Information Review.