When a shopper walks into a store, she is greeted by hundreds of attractively placed merchandise, innovative displays, and charming hosts. But the one technology that’s turning out to be a game-changer: Beacons that transmit instant shopping alerts to all smartphone users inside the store area…
A report by BusinesInsider predicts that beacons will influence over $4 billion worth of US retail sales this year, at the top 100 retailers, and that this number will swell ten-fold by 2016!
Beacons are poised to transform how retailers, event organizers, transit systems, enterprises, and even educational institutions communicate with people indoors.
Prominent stores across USA, including Lord & Taylor, Walmart, Urban Outfitters and Sephora, are using the technology to push targeted messages to shoppers on their smartphones. The most popular are: personalized coupons, latest products, and updates on what other people are buying. It successfully creates a buzz and translates into an immediate uptick in sales.
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Beacons are low-cost hardware that can be easily installed inside a store. They utilizes Bluetooth technology to transmit instant messages to smart phones in the immediate vicinity, thus enabling effective and relevant communication between the shopper and the store. The shopper can be alerted to new products, discounts, promotions etc while she is inside the store or in the immediate vicinity.
Stores find this an easy and inexpensive way to enhance the shopping experience for customers. Half of the surveyed adults in USA are receptive to such technology as they feel it would be benefit them. The technology is not intrusive and shopper can turn off his Wi-Fi if he doesn’t want to receive any messages. He can also decline to share his GPS coordinates with the mobile application and therefore maintain his privacy.
The Hudson’s Bay Company, the Canadian department store that owns the upmarket chain Lord & Taylor, has installed beacon technology at all of its locations in the US and Canada.
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Last year, several more leading retailers started testing the beacon technology, including Macy’s and Target. Hundreds of big retail chains are turning on those devices and using them in many more innovative ways, such as promoting loyalty programs, collecting valuable data on customers’ in-store activity, and encouraging them to download mobile apps.
These new steps will enable stores to reinforce their customer engagement programs and also provide offers that are customized to the shoppers’ location, past purchase behaviour, etc.
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For a deeper insight, join the first India Omnichannel Forum (IOF) which will be held as a concurrent event with the India Retail Forum 2015 on September 15th and 16th, 2015 at the Rennaissance Hotel & Convention Centre, Mumbai.
India Omnichannel Forum (IOF 2015) is a tailored and one-of-its-kind technology forum for business owners, business leaders and technology teams to meet, engage and conceptualise the next-generation of consumer experiences. Enriching the quality and expanse of retail experiences across physical and digital worlds through intuitive consumer engagement and technology enablement is the vision of the India Omnichannel Forum. Mirroring this vision, this inaugural year’s theme will be ‘Consumer Centric Commerce’.
Click here to register for India Omnichannel Forum (IOF 2015)
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