Marketers are trying new technology to attract shoppers to their business. They are looking for new cost-effective technology to implement in their marketing campaign. To attract local shoppers, marketers use location-based marketing which can drive sales. Beacon Technology is one such invention that allows marketers to use location-based strategy.
More than 75% of marketers in the United States use this technology to make their marketing effective. This is a proven technology where marketers can combine physical and digital marketing experience.
The innovation of new technologies helps to make marketing efforts more focused. As a result, there is a great change in sales too.
Big retailers like Macy’s, Target, CVS, etc use this technology to track their shopper’s pattern. There were many attempts to track their shopping history by placing tracking devices with the shopping cart, shelves, etc. But all of them failed.
After those ineffective attempts, marketers found that Beacon technology as one of the best options for this purpose. It is equally important for marketers to track shopper’s physical experience inside a store like tracking data online.
If you are new to this term, here is the definition of the term.
What is Beacon Technology?
Beacon is a battery-operated Bluetooth device that sends signals to the customer’s smartphone. This will happen only if Bluetooth is enabled on their device. This technology helps to offer a customizable shopping experience to its customers.
If the customer’s mobile device has got the app of that retailer they will receive a notification, coupons, offers, etc to their device. This is the advantage of this particular device. This brilliant technology offers a lot of advantages for retailers. Check out some benefits of using Beacon technology
Increases the sale:
When a customer comes to a store to buy something the device will send him notification offer for that particular product on his phone. This is possible because the tracking device tracks each and every place the shopper goes and send the notification to his mobile about current offers on the products he searched for. This can improve the sale
Retargeting:
This technology sends departure notification to customers which influences them to return back. When a shopper goes out of the store, the device will send them offers which make them come back again for shopping
Makes analysis easy:
When a shopper uses the offer send by the device, marketers can easily analyze the effectiveness of using that device.
Like benefits, there are also some limitations while using this product.
- The device will only work on Bluetooth activated device. Everyone won’t turn on their Bluetooth always. In that condition, this device won’t work.
- It only works on active retail app users. Other than activated Bluetooth one more additional point is that the shopper should download the app and use it effectively to get more notifications from Beacon.
- Should be able to provide the exact notification according to their shopping history. Sometimes shoppers will get notification of all products in a particular area which is ineffective.
How Beacon Works?
Beacon technology sends hyper contextualized signals to mobile apps and to mobile apps based on a user’s location. So, we can say that this technology works based on a shopper’s location.
The main type of messages that sends through this technology are advertisements. Retailers can send messages to shoppers using this technology and this is a one-way communication method.
Mot online retailers like Amazon uses brick and mortar technologies to attract their shoppers. They give suggestion to shoppers based on their search and this increased their sale.
To apply this technology in a physical location, the only available option for retailers as of now is Beacon Technology. Customers will accept this very positively because they love to personalize recommendations now.
Beacon Technology Uses:
Beacon technology is a very effective technology that can act as a bridge which connects with retailers and customers. This is a new way to attract current customers to the business.
By tracking shopper’s history business can send personalized offers and discounts to that particular shopper.
Beacon technology can help shoppers to know about offers they can get from a particular business.
At the same time, retailers or marketers can track the effectiveness of each offer by analyzing customer shopping pattern. If an offer is very useful then many shoppers will use it for purchase. By tracking this, they can identify the types of offers that can work well.
How Retailers Are Using Beacon Technology?
Famous retailers Macy’s implemented this technology in the store in 2014. They linked with Shopkick to install 40,000 shop beacons. This app will send push button to shoppers to open Macy’s app when they enter these stores. This will help them to receive the notification, offers, and promotions.
Another retailer Target applied this technology in more than 50 stores all over the nation to send notifications to its shoppers. They can opt-in to share location and receive notifications.
Instead of sending so many notifications the brand concentrated on sending limited notifications to their customers. This message includes a special discount for their shoppers. By using these technologies retailers like Macy’s, Target, etc connected with their customers and increased their conversion rate.
By creating awareness to customers, retailers are using this technology successfully. Their main limitation of this app is the reluctance of customers to turn on the Bluetooth while going out of their house due to security reasons. This is the main issue for retailers. They have to use this technology to communicate with customers and remind them to turn ON the Bluetooth device.
It is important to send private messages to them to make them believe in your business or brand. Most customizable messages and offers are very useful to promote sales.
Benefits of Beacon Technology in Retail:
Retailers in the US and UK area are implementing this technology as a part of their marketing efforts. They found out the benefits they can bring using this technology to their sale and customer relation. There are very fewer technologies which can create a personalized experience for customers.
Among them, Beacon technology is the best option available now. Retailers are using this technology for the following functions
Advertising:
To reduce the distance between physical and digital shopping, they use beacon technology. Traditional advertisements on TV and print media advertisement were the primary option to drive more sale. But it is very difficult to measure the result of it.
SO, now retailers use this technology to create some tailored shopping experience for customers. Digital marketing uses the recommendation to customers to increase the product sale but in physical marketing it very difficult to achieve without proper technology. This is where Beacon technology helps retailers. Due to this, shoppers are getting offers and discounts they want to use at the right time.
Collect customer data:
Another benefit of using Beacon technology is to collect customer-related data. This will help marketers to create a more tailored experience for the right customers. Due to this device, marketers track customer performance, shopping habits, preferences, etc.
The physical shopping experience is struggling to make their mark just like the digital shopping experience. This device will track everything related to customer shopping inside a store and study customer performance.
Tailored customer experience:
Just as retailers like Amazon, this technology enables retailers to give a more customized experience to their shoppers.
More personalized purchases are possible only by sending them offers, deals, coupons, and product recommendations according to their shopping history.
By sending an exclusive offer for each shopper, a brand can connect with them and create trust within them about it. This makes them more attached to that particular brand.
The Sales people in a store have limitations to help customers. But this technology enables to give more customizable shopping experience to shoppers by sending them exclusive messages.
Reasonable plan:
Implementing this technology is not that much expensive. This technology is affordable and is very easy to install and operate for all retailers.
The cost will depend on the number of transmitters you install, and a number of apps linked to it. From various types of tracking system like GPS location, Wi-Fi location, Structured light tracking, this Bluetooth tracking is proved to be more effective by most of the retail marketers to connect with their customers.
Beacon technology is one of the most effective locations marketing solution as of now. Google Eddystone and Apple iBeacon are some of the popular platforms available in the market to use.
Increased use of the Mobile app:
Today most users have retail apps on their smartphone. This makes the use of Beacon app possible. Sometimes users don’t operate the app well.
Retailers send Beacon triggered notifications to make shoppers remember about the advantage of turning on Bluetooth device. Only by doing this, the user will get access to discount and offers that retailers offer.
By the introduction of Beacon technology integrated with the mobile application, it increased the engagement and usability of these retailer apps. This can make shoppers interested in using the retailer mobile app actively.
How to Implement Beacon technology:
There are many Beacon manufactures available for retailers to implement. All of them are promising advanced technology and cost-effective plans.
Bluecats: Bluecats is an Australian manufacturer of Beacon technology. The device is easy to connect them to the store. It has got a better SDK and Data Analysis capacity.
Estimote: One of the largest Beacon manufacturers available as of now. They have distributed more than 10,000 developer kits.
Gimbal: This is a product from Qualcomm which has a range of 50 meters. The battery will only last for 2-3months. This is a web-based tool that can manage many functionalities and establish its name in the industry.
Signal360: This is a beacon-based technology product which is compatible with IOS versions. The price of this beacon is affordable and is compatible with almost all smartphones
Kontakt: Kontakt is another beacon product which is getting popular within the industry. The main reason for its popularity is the conventional design. Also, brands can customize the color and settings as retailers want. They also help to back up data and comes with a strong content management system.
All of them are very popular with Beacon industry manufacturers. When you set up this technology for your store, make sure to encourage your shoppers to download the app and activate it to get more offers and discounts from the retailers.
The business should use emails, campaigns, etc to explain the benefits of using Beacon technology to its customers. This will encourage more people to use the mobile app and turn on when they enter the store.
Tips for Using Beacon Technology Successfully:
When retailers use Beacon technology, it should aim to improve customer experience Most retailers use this as a tool to improve their sale. Here are some tips for using this app effectively
Get to know customers:
Use this technology to read customer’s shopping pattern and learn about them. The more you know about your customer, the better experience you can provide to them.
No need to waste money on building an app:
Every business spends money on building their app better. But this technology will work well with all google apps. Shoppers will get a notification through any shopping apps.
Provide useful information:
When retailers send a notification to shoppers it should not be just about the advertisement. There should be some useful information to their shoppers.
Use analytics to provide a better offer:
Retailers uses this technology to track customer analytics and provide a better offer.
Final Words:
Beacon Technology is a very useful technology for retailers. It is a proven technology according to experts to increase the sale. Customers like the brand which can provide them a better shopping experience.
Send the right discounts and offers to shoppers individually by tracking their shopping history and pattern. The device is very easy to install and is operated by an AA battery.
Retailers can install it inside the store at various place. Also, it has a specified range of operation too. Build up customer loyalty and increase business by providing them better-valued offers and information’s about business.