For the last several years, with all the excitement surrounding e-commerce, mobile has contributed to the continued decline of brick-and-mortar sales, while online shopping is steadily growing.
But, as much as we would like to believe that everything will move digital, it is important to understand that even in the US – where most retailers are Omnichannel – 95 per cent of retail business still happens at the physical store.
We see an emerging trend, a world where online and offline shopping coexists rather than compete. If technology were to be blamed for the online vs. offline divide, it is now bringing the consumer and retailer together like never before.
Welcome to the world of beacons. Beacons are small, battery-operated, low-cost wireless devices that continuously transmit a simple low energy Bluetooth signal saying: “Hello, this is me, here is my ID”. Apps on smart phones can pick up these signals, and create rich personalized experiences.
-Identify and connect: Imagine a world where you could identify a potential customer among the hundreds of people who walk by your store; greet them, say hello and invite them over to your store.
-Engage based on consumers taste and preferences: Advertise relevant information on products, special offers and deals.
-Delightful in-store experiences: Assist customers in finding specific items with in-store navigation. Beacons save time, energy and resources by helping consumers find relevant information quickly
-Drive insights: Get insights into customer behaviour and feed them back into CRM. Understand footfall patterns, entry and exit data, amount of time spent, visited locations, heat maps, trends, repeat visits, and purchase history all in real time.
Beacons open up a world of new possibilities, and it is quite natural that it will be widely used and implemented by all types of businesses, big or small. One thing to remember is that no one likes a pest, either in the retail world or online.
ABOUT MOBMERRY
Mobmerry is a lifestyle product discovery and mobile commerce platform for consumers and offline retailers. Mobmerry also uses Beacon technology to give the user an enhanced experience.
For consumers, there is no personalized way for consumers to discover and buy lifestyle products from multiple offline retailers in an easy and friction less manner.
Mobmerry aggregates and curates lifestyle products from offline retailers and creates a personalized mobile commerce experience based on an individual’s taste and preferences.
Mobmerry has installed these beacons at all retail destinations who have partnered with the brand.
Celio’s store at Indiranagar, was one of the first few stores that we onboarded. It is one of the top brands with respect to Walk-ins and Sales enabled by Mobmerry and it continues to be so.
READ MORE: In-Store Beacons Generate Billions in Sales!
5 technologies that Indian retailers must adopt from the West
Must Read