business.com
With the
retail going digital and the digital media coming to retail, we cannot predict
any single technological breakthrough to last forever. The most convenient
discovery of any time replaces its predecessor.
Beacons are
a new adjunct to the digital marketing domain. They are small, Bluetooth
low-energy devices that transmit uniquely identifiable signals to compatible
smartphones apps. These apps then display contextual messages to customers.
This
intelligent technology has enabled brick-and-mortar businesses to restore their
fading customer count. Beacons are a cost-effective marketing technique that
fall in the realm of location-based marketing. Here, the marketing broadcasts
are limited to a specific geographic range of approximately 50 meters.
Retailers
can set up these devices in-store to deliver product-related notifications to
customers browsing the physical store. Web analytics can further improve the
experience by delivering customer’s frequency of visit and browsing history so
that beacons can send relevant offers based on past shopping behavior.
Consumer
insight is beneficial for increasing sales, for instance, which two products
need to be clubbed to create more saleable offers can be found based on
shopping behavior and detail high selling products.
Apart from
marketing, this technology can also be applied to routine life activities like
tracking assets and other devices. For example, you can configure alerts from
the device as the object moves out of a set boundary and take timely action.
The
Potential
Beacons
offer utility and value to marketers by making right business propositions at
the right time and place. Altogether revolutionizing the retail experience by
offering greetings, providing coupons and discount offers, upselling products
and services, enabling payment services and many more.
Bluetooth
SMART has been integrated by many smartphone manufacturers in Australia.
Big data
analytics create a more relevant and personalized marketing experience. Stores
can study traffic patterns and optimize this data for more relevant experience.
For
example, an apparel brand prominently displays their women’s collection, but
studying the visit pattern they realize men are more frequent visitors to their
store than women and can alter their display arrangement.
This data
can help store managers to experiment with their product display and examine
customer response. And this also accounts for a comparatively easy revenue
monitoring system i.e., the total number of successful in-app transactions
occurring near store location.
It can be
used for gathering store related, product related and service related feedback.
And also for reaching out to in-person assistance whenever required. Moreover,
it needs to be perceived as an assistant rather than a substitute to in-store
sales executives.
And with Facebook’sannouncement of
adopting this technology, its acceptance is going to increase by leaps and
bounds.
Effectiveness
of Beacons
While there
is one set of people who command this technology, the other set of people
disfavor it quoting it as a privacy intervention. However every marketing
technique needs to follow a permission-based distribution process, wherein the
residing app seeks user permission before integrating with and delivering
messages from the transmitter. Unwanted messages simply frustrate the user
and lead to debarring of the entire application.
Sending
marketing messages to a person sitting in the comforts of their home might not
draw them to the point-of-sale. But sending such alerts to a person near a
physical store is more fruitful. Highly targeted marketing alerts during
in-store purchase considerably improve sales metrics and provides an enhanced
buying experience to customers.
Innovations
You really
need to be innovative when it comes to adopting trending technologies, much as
what you adopt, how you adopt determines the outcome. As of now beacons
integrate with the App Layer to deliver messages.
Samsung has
gone an extra mile by developing a Samsung Placedge Platform whereby the device
wouldn’t require any app to detect a beacon, instead the entire beacon
communication will be device dependent.
Design
Considerations & Beacon App Design Fundamentals
For mobile
apps, usability and smooth rendering have always been the top priority. But
with beacons entering the sphere app designers are compelled to develop beacon
enabled apps. The major design essential for these apps is the proximity
sensing abilities. Beacons can be termed as ‘indoor GPS devices’ for issuing
more targeted alert notifications within a geographic boundary.
Beacon
Industry Applications
Retail
businesses are the first adopters - to raise their commercial profits. Apart
from them there are some more potential suitors that can benefit from the
latest
1.
Sports Stadium
Venues
where big gatherings occur, especially stadiums, hold veritable potential for
location-based marketing. In major sports stadiums where international
competitions take place a huge crowd gathers. Such events happen to be a major
trade season for catering businesses. But managing order requisition of a big
crowd is a complex task involving many salesmen, point-of-sale counters, order
managers, etc.
Beacons
installed in seats communicate with mobile devices. Customers can book their order
request or call a sales executive through their app. The app informs the
point-of-contact with your seat location and details.
Apart from
providing simple ordering facility these beacons can also be used to deliver
special offers from all the existing retailers and their location, an
integrated map can further enhance the experience.
2.
Travel Industry
Cabs in UK
are a live example of iBeacon implementation in the travel industry.
Beacons are installed within cabs so that customers receive marketing alerts
during their journey, which on an average lasts for around 20 mins. Studies
have established—90 percent of the people who travel in cabs in UK have
smartphones and tablets along with high personal incomes and, therefore, these
customers have a higher potential of engaging in promotional offers.
Marketing
alerts have recorded transactions through apps during a customer’s in-cab time
frame. Proximity marketing company Proxama’s network covers major transport
facilities across London, and therefore, the capital outreach is enormous
for app based marketing.
3. Real
Estate
Lots of
properties are on-sale in the neighborhood which we fail to notice owing to our
hectic schedules. Receiving smartphone alerts about them through proximity
sensing beacons would be extremely helpful.
Proximity
devices save time of both the buyer and the seller by breaking the
so-called ‘ice’ in a trade meeting. This device setup functions in two ways,
providing visitor details to the dealer with their frequency of visits and
provide property and dealer information to the prospective buyer.
The beacon
devices installed at the entrance would prompt visitors and passersby to
register via the app and receive property related notifications, like history
and evaluation, virtual property tours and allow buyers submit their
feedback.
4.
Restaurants and Food Industry
From
effective grocery selling to creating pleasant dining experience, beacon
technology seems to conform well with the food industry on the whole. Passersby
can be notified of promotional offers and your restaurant’s dish of the week.
- Provide order in advance
feature to busy customers saving their waiting time
- Allow your customers to book
their table through the app
- Update them with offers on
their favorite items and special events
- And
finally enable mobile payments
Isn’t it
like a dream come true of a cashless world? The essence of this tech is a quick
service attributed by digital assistance.
A restaurant in Tokyo has beacons installed on all
the tables and as a customer places his mobile near it, the app displays the
menu with user reviews (being linked to social sites). After the meal,
customers can make their payments through the app and simply walk out.
Conclusion
Most
importantly for beacons to function, it requires the brand’s app to be
installed in your device. It’s like—you receive usage alerts from the telecom
operator you have been registered with and not others.
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