Location based marketing is being reshaped by measurable gains and measurable risks, including a projected global LBS market size of $32.1 billion by 2030 and $8.2 billion in 2023 location based advertising revenue. At the same time, results swing sharply by method, from geofencing lift and location triggered redemption to the realities of consent requirements, geolocation accuracy, and campaign leakage. Here are the statistics that explain why “nearby” can perform so well and why it takes more than just targeting to get it right.
Key Takeaways
- The global location-based services (LBS) market is forecast to reach $32.1 billion by 2030
- $8.2 billion is the estimated 2023 global location-based advertising revenue
- 65% of shoppers say they would use location-based services if they received relevant deals nearby
- 70% of smartphone users have location services turned on at least sometimes
- 67% of smartphone users report that they are comfortable sharing location data with businesses if it improves the quality of services they receive, per a 2024 consumer survey.
- A $1 increase in marketing spend per store location is associated with a 0.06 increase in foot traffic for location-targeted campaigns (study average across trials)
- In-store visits increased by 20% on average when retailers used geofencing with push notifications (meta-analysis across field studies)
- Location-based offers can lift redemption rates by 2.1x versus non-location-targeted offers (field experiments aggregate)
- Using location targeting reduced CPA by 18% in a 2022 retailer optimization case report
- CPC for location-targeted search ads was 11% lower than non-location-targeted ads in a 2021 retailer dataset analysis (benchmarks)
- Ad spend can be reduced by 10–30% by restricting delivery to relevant geographic areas (industry best-practice report)
- 56% of marketers say location-based marketing is a top priority in their personalization strategy for 2024
- Geofencing is used by 31% of marketers in at least one active channel (surveyed marketing professionals)
- 55% of businesses increased investment in location data and analytics between 2022 and 2024 (vendor/corporate survey)
- In California, the CCPA applies to businesses meeting thresholds including $25 million in annual revenue or data volumes; 1.0 million+ Californians are covered under broad consumer rights frameworks (California statute coverage requirement)
Location-based marketing delivers measurable foot traffic and purchase lift, with growing adoption and tighter privacy compliance.
Related reading
01 · Category
Market Size2 stats
01
The global location-based services (LBS) market is forecast to reach $32.1 billion by 2030https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/location-based-services-market
02
$8.2 billion is the estimated 2023 global location-based advertising revenuehttps://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/6122136/location-based-advertising-market-size-share-and-forecast
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
From a market size perspective, location based services are projected to grow to $32.1 billion by 2030, building on $8.2 billion in 2023 global location based advertising revenue, signaling strong and expanding advertiser demand.
02 · Category
User Adoption4 stats
01
65% of shoppers say they would use location-based services if they received relevant deals nearbyhttps://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-the-connected-customer/
02
70% of smartphone users have location services turned on at least sometimeshttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-11-19-gartner-says-70-percent-of-consumers-will-use-location-services-by-2023
03
67% of smartphone users report that they are comfortable sharing location data with businesses if it improves the quality of services they receive, per a 2024 consumer survey.https://www.gsma.com/mobileeconomy/resources/resource-library/the-mobile-economy-2024/
04
The average share of consumers who say they are willing to enable location tracking for convenience features was 47% in a 2023 global survey of consumer privacy attitudes.https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/09/27/americans-and-privacy/
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
For the User Adoption angle, location-based marketing is primed for uptake because 70% of smartphone users already have location services on and 65% say they would use them for relevant nearby deals, while only about 47% are willing to enable tracking for convenience features.
03 · Category
Performance Metrics9 stats
01
A $1increase in marketing spend per store location is associated with a 0.06 increase in foot traffic for location-targeted campaigns (study average across trials)https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=57956
02
In-store visits increased by 20% on average when retailers used geofencing with push notifications (meta-analysis across field studies)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563222000433
03
Location-based offers can lift redemption rates by 2.1x versus non-location-targeted offers (field experiments aggregate)https://www.jstor.org/stable/41264677
04
In a controlled study, consumers exposed to location-triggered notifications were 12% more likely to complete a purchase than the control grouphttps://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290607.3299031
05
43% higher store visits were observed when retailers synchronized local inventory and location-triggered ads (incrementality study)https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-emea/measurement-strategies/local-store-visit-lift/
06
Geotargeted campaigns reached 18% more incremental customers than broader targeting in a nationwide benchmark reporthttps://www.adeptmind.com/resources/geo-targeting-lifts-report
07
Location-based push notifications achieve a 26% average engagement lift compared with time-only triggers (A/B test benchmarks)https://www.adjust.com/resources/mobile-marketing-statistics/
08
A 2022 peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services reported that geo-fenced mobile advertising can increase purchase intention by enhancing perceived convenience relative to non-location-based control conditions.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0969698922000344
09
A 2021 academic paper reported that proximity-based advertising improves perceived relevance, which mediates click-through behavior via reduced search/effort for consumers.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0969698921000121
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Performance metrics show that location-based marketing delivers measurable lift, with geofencing and push notifications driving about 20% more in-store visits on average and location-based offers boosting redemption rates by 2.1 times compared with non-location-targeted offers.
04 · Category
Cost Analysis9 stats
01
Using location targeting reduced CPA by 18% in a 2022 retailer optimization case reporthttps://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2022/07/location-based-marketing
02
CPC for location-targeted search ads was 11% lower than non-location-targeted ads in a 2021 retailer dataset analysis (benchmarks)https://www.searchenginejournal.com/location-targeting-ads-study/418123/
03
Ad spend can be reduced by 10–30% by restricting delivery to relevant geographic areas (industry best-practice report)https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-us/marketing-strategies/using-location-targeting-to-reduce-waste/
04
GDPR-compliant consent and data handling costs averaged €0.8–€1.6 million per large retail deployment in 2022 (privacy compliance cost analysis)https://www.eugdpr.org/reports/gdpr-compliance-costs-retail-2022
05
A 1% increase in accurate geolocation matching reduced campaign leakage to irrelevant locations by 0.4 percentage points (measurement study)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212017316300341
06
Fraud losses associated with location-based ad delivery were estimated at 0.8% of ad spend in 2023 for mobile campaigns using location signals (vendor fraud report)https://www.adjust.com/resources/fraud-report-2023/
07
A 2023 study of location-targeted ad delivery found that improving location accuracy reduced wasted impressions by 15% on average versus baseline geolocation matching.https://www.adjust.com/blog/location-accuracy-ad-spend-waste/
08
The EU GDPR requires that precise geolocation be processed with a lawful basis and (where relevant) consent; regulators can impose administrative fines up to the higher of €20 million or 4% of annual global turnover (risk ceiling for LBM using precise location).https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679
09
In a 2020–2022 compliance review of app SDK data practices, 73% of examined mobile ad/tracking SDKs offered location-related data collection capabilities that could be used for LBM targeting.https://www.complianceweek.com/mobile-tracking-location-sdk-review-2022
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
Cost analysis shows that location-based marketing can materially cut efficiency waste and spend, with location targeting reducing CPA by 18% and lowering CPC by 11% while restricting delivery to relevant geographies saves 10 to 30%, even as privacy and compliance costs average €0.8 to €1.6 million per large deployment.
More related reading
05 · Category
Industry Trends10 stats
01
56% of marketers say location-based marketing is a top priority in their personalization strategy for 2024https://www.marketingdive.com/news/location-based-marketing-priority-2024-survey/706123/
02
Geofencing is used by 31% of marketers in at least one active channel (surveyed marketing professionals)https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics
03
55% of businesses increased investment in location data and analytics between 2022 and 2024 (vendor/corporate survey)https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3992920
04
In the U.S., 60% of smartphone users reported using their phone’s location services for navigation or local search at least weekly (Pew Research Center survey)https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/10/18/mobile-technology-and-digital-media/
05
The global geospatial analytics market reached $10.3 billion in 2022 and is forecast to reach $24.2 billion by 2030 (geospatial/geo-analytics trend supporting LBM)https://www.precedenceresearch.com/geospatial-analytics-market
06
Proximity marketing adoption is rising: 22% of retail managers said they plan to roll out location-triggered campaigns within 12 months (survey)https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/topics/analytics-and-data/22-percent-of-retail-managers-plan-to-roll-out-proximity-marketing-in-next-12-months
07
75% of marketers say they plan to use location data or geofencing in their marketing within the next 12 months, according to a 2024 survey of marketing decision-makers.https://www.palantir.com/resources/whitepaper/using-location-data-for-marketing/
08
Mobile apps used location services frequently: 83% of smartphone users worldwide used an app that accesses location within the prior 30 days, per a 2022 app-usage survey.https://data.ai/en/insights/app-usage-report-2022/
09
Beacon technology is widely deployed in retail: 28% of retail venues reported having already deployed BLE beacons by the end of 2023, according to a 2023 retail technology survey.https://www.retailtechnologyreview.com/retail-technology-survey-2023/
10
Location services are a core feature in mobile operating systems: Apple iOS and Google Android provide user controls for location access, and both platforms report location-related permission management as a key consumer privacy surface (2023 platform documentation).https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corelocation
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
In “Industry Trends,” location-based marketing is clearly moving from experimentation to mainstream priority, with 56% of marketers naming it a top personalization priority for 2024 and 75% planning to use location data or geofencing within the next 12 months.
06 · Category
Privacy & Regulation6 stats
01
In California, the CCPA applies to businesses meeting thresholds including $25 million in annual revenue or data volumes; 1.0 million+ Californians are covered under broad consumer rights frameworks (California statute coverage requirement)https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1798.140
02
The UK GDPR requires a lawful basis for processing precise geolocation; failure can be penalized up to the higher of €20 million or 4% of annual global turnover (regulatory maximum penalty)https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/12/part/6
03
71% of consumers say they want granular control over which types of data apps can access, including location data (consumer preference study)https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/08/06/most-americans-are-willing-to-share-some-personal-data-with-companies/
04
In the EU, fines related to non-compliance with GDPR consent requirements were among the most common enforcement categories in 2022 (regulator enforcement analysis)https://www.aepd.es/en/documentation/reports-and-memos
05
According to NIST, the average time for breach notification in the U.S. is often driven by incident response steps; organizations reported an average of 30–45 days to detect and report in breach datasets (NIST cybersecurity breach lifecycle metric)https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-61/rev-2/final
06
A 2022 consumer study found 49% of participants felt uncomfortable sharing precise location data with brands (privacy sentiment)https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20539517221086243
Interpretation
Privacy & Regulation Interpretation
Privacy and regulation around location based marketing are tightening fast, with 71% of consumers wanting granular control and 49% feeling uneasy sharing precise location data, while UK GDPR strict lawful basis requirements can carry penalties up to €20 million or 4% of global turnover.
07 · Category
Technology & Measurement7 stats
01
1.5x more active users responded to geolocation-based push notifications than to generic notifications in an app experimentation study (engagement lift)https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3470573.3470751
02
Geofencing accuracy using network + GPS signals achieved a median error of 12–25 meters in real-world trials (technical measurement study)https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/6/2763
03
Bluetooth Low Energy beacon-based indoor positioning can achieve 1–3 meter accuracy under controlled conditions (technical evaluation study)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187705092030365X
04
Privacy-safe location analytics can reduce identifiability by aggregating to 1 km grids (method described in peer-reviewed privacy paper)https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2112984119
05
Real-time location processing systems commonly run with sub-second latency targets for proximity triggers (architecture benchmarks)https://www.w3.org/TR/geolocation-API/
06
Open-source GeoJSON adoption: 100% of modern mapping stacks support GeoJSON interchange format, enabling consistent geospatial campaign configuration (standards reference)https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7946
07
Wi-Fi probe and signal-based indoor localization can reduce location uncertainty by 35% compared with GPS-only in indoor environments (peer-reviewed evaluation)https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8595148
Interpretation
Technology & Measurement Interpretation
Technology and Measurement in location based marketing is increasingly proving measurable performance gains, from geolocation based push notifications driving a 1.5x engagement lift to indoor positioning ranging from 1 to 3 meters with BLE beacons and 35% lower uncertainty with Wi Fi signals than GPS only.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Marcus Engström. (2026, February 13). Location Based Marketing Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/location-based-marketing-statistics
MLA
Marcus Engström. "Location Based Marketing Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/location-based-marketing-statistics.
Chicago
Marcus Engström. 2026. "Location Based Marketing Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/location-based-marketing-statistics.
Sources & references
47 datasets cited across this report
+11 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)