IDG Contributor Network: Walgreens wants to use wearables to give instant discounts for exercising
Mobile health data is one of those yin-yang concepts, where the potential to help consumers vastly outdistances other mobile efforts, but the potential to hurt them with devastating privacy losses is dangerous. Not only is the same true in retail healthcare — think Walgreens, Rite-Aid, CVS and the pharmacies within Walmart, Target and Kroger — but it can be even more pronounced.
It's therefore only fair to give top-level kudos to Walgreens, which is bravely pushing the envelope, including one effort to give shoppers wearable devices that report health data — how much exercise is happening, at what level, what foods are being purchased, etc. — back to Walgreens. In exchange, Walgreens is preparing to issue automatic credits when customers check out.
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