The Big Rise of Smart Retail with the Tiny Beacons

Proximity marketing is indeed the next big thing when it comes to addressing the needs of the retail world. The holiday season concluded a few weeks ago, saw retailers cashing in with a beacons bonanza and appropriate beacons retail apps solutions in place.

Powered by communication technologies like the Bluetooth & WiFi and facilitated by smartphones, Beacons create engaging user experiences, grabbing the attention of the patrons all across various industries besides the Retail space too.

The Rise of Proximity Based Marketing

It is estimated that more than 15% retailers globally today deploy Beacon based solutions to enrich shopping experiences and the number is likely to cross 50% by the end of this decade. The importance of proximity marketing solutions through beacon app development is clear from the fact that today almost half of the mobile enabled customers are willing to share location details and a little more than these are likely to recommend local deals to their friends or colleagues. A significant chunk of customers also consider coupon based advertising or deals as the most preferred form of mobile marketing.

Beacons enable a personalized shopping experience by pushing appropriate content and deals when the customer is near the mall or inside the store examining specific products on selected sections within the store. Consumers are becoming increasingly used to engaging & relevant user experiences in-store or online.

Indeed, beacons enable retail business by capturing real-time data and keep the retail analytics in sync with the happenings to generate better insights. True the tiny beacons complement Analytics like none another.

Shopping with the Beacons

Deployment of beacons is quite critical in redefining the new age shopping experiences to bring it in tune to the modern-day expectations; especially when the Millennials are all set to disrupt shopping experiences. A comprehensive deployment plan across the retail value chain to maximize sales potential by attracting & retaining shoppers is a call of the day. Beacons retail apps solutions drive the proximity solutions in-store & in the vicinity too.

Beacons in the Stores

• • • • When a customer enters a store, the deployed beacon sends a welcome message.
      • The beacon follows every moment spent by the customer inside the store, trapping and communicating real-time information to the system.
      • Beacon technology is integrated with mannequins just as the shelves, alleys and racks to capture customer behavior.
      • Beacons also act as a guide as the customer moves around in the store, displaying messages on specific item of interest with each passing aisle making use of mobile apps to communicate with the customer through appropriate push notifications.
      • Beacons also transmit information on discount vouchers or exciting offers within the store to generate customer interest.
      • Contactless payment methods can be deployed with beacon technology making checkout & processing faster.

Beacons in the Malls

• • • While beacon technology is effectively deployed within stores, it is also combined with other technologies like geofencing to attract customers walking nearby the store or in the mall housing the store.
    • Using communication mediums like GPS, geofencing enables advertisements, coupons or messages to be delivered to customers in the vicinity luring them in to the store.

Beacons Nail the Psyche of the Customer

Advertising firms estimate that while users read fifteen percent of push messages, they are likely to about half of the messages transmitted by beacons as these messages are more relevant to their shopping preferences. Effectively, beacons not only boost customer loyalty, they are also used by advertising networks to collect to help redefine retail business marketing strategy.

A Word of Caution

For implementing beacon technology, the retail business also needs to consider the cost in question. While deployment cost is one-time, the cost of maintaining the technology and corresponding operating model may prove to be significant. It might prove to be a challenge to manage beacon technology from multiple vendors or partners and this could increase the operational cost exponentially.

Overall return on investment is a vital aspect to consider for an enterprise willing to invest in technology endeavors that rethink the business strategy.

Beacons – Data collected

Beacons are indeed a popular way to delivering relevant & customized shopping experiences. Retailers realize the potential of beacons to collect significant amount of data which can then be analyzed to determine customer shopping patterns, areas of interest and ultimately lead to business growth.

For brands globally, it is the customer retention that propels the business forward. Retail app development strategizes the data collected from beacons is used to gain insights into customer’s favorite products, time spent in reviewing specific products of interest, preferred brands, demographics, as well as overall behavior exhibited within the store or browsing the app.

Multiple metrics of interest to retail business is captured and effectively leveraged by prudent installation of beacons and using the corresponding data judiciously.

Data Captured by Beacons

It also helps stores with capacity planning & demand forecasting, as well as map right resources at the right place.

Retail businesses fuse Big Data & Analytics to help them analyze beacon data, and make the most out of their investment with correct Retail Analytics in place.

In a Nutshell

In about last three years, retailers recognize the advantages of proximity marketing & the beacon technology. 2017 will see insights derived from location analytics eventually seeing the light of the day when it comes to driving business. Campaigns will become innovative and proximity based marketing is likely to become more accurate considering the increasing maturity in analyzing consumer behavior & geofencing. The new year will also see the implementation of Bluetooth 5, and the advantages it offers such as high speed, improved range & better broadcasting capabilities will indeed lend a boost to retail beacons.

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