The offer could be targeted to shoppers based on past purchases or other factors, he said. When the customer reached the checkout stand, the discount could be applied automatically.

Aisle411 already offers an indoor navigation app for iPhone and Android that helps users locate items on the shelves of some stores. The company is in discussions with large and small retailers that want to deploy indoor navigation networks using technologies such as Bluetooth beacons, said George Arabian, vice president of business development.

Indoor location would be most useful as part of a larger search and navigation system, helping users find their way to an address and then through a store to find a product or across a convention center to find someone they want to meet, said Brian Salisbury, director of business development at TeleCommunication Systems, which makes a variety of location and telematics products.

Some speakers at the conference were optimistic about indoor location's potential. One was Bryan Trussel, CEO of Glympse, which lets mobile users share their real-time location with specific people for a defined period of time.

"In 18 months, I think that's going to be pretty commonplace," Trussel said of indoor navigation. "I think it'll be huge." Glympse envisions consumers using indoor location to find each other in malls or convention centers.