Five Reasons Retailers Should Be Excited About Beacons

By Brian Anderson, Associate Editor

It seems as though anything that has a lowercase “I” at the beginning of its name starts a trend nowadays.

iBeacon, for example, has caused a media storm in the retail industry, encouraging many executives to look into beacon technology and consider how the technology can improve their business. Although I’m often skeptical about new Apple products — due to the hype that’s normally associated with the brand — the concept of beacon technology is a new-age idea that has great potential as a retail marketing tool.

A recent webinar hosted by iInside, titled: Beacons: When Do You Need Yours, And Oh, What Are Beacons?, got me thinking about beacon technology and exactly how beneficial it can be for a retailer.

Below are my five reasons why retailers should consider implementing beacon technology in stores:

1. You Can’t Ignore The Benefits Of Location-Based Communication: This is the bread-and-butter of beacon technology. The ability to push messages and notifications directly to customers’ mobile devices as soon as they are in proximity of the store or a product presents a valuable engagement opportunity smart retailers should not ignore. As a retailer, having “more touch points” for your customers gives you more opportunities to “add value” to the customer experience, noted Jon Rosen, Executive Vice President of iInside. And from what I’ve noticed, customers need to recognize this value before they engage with your brand because their time is valuable.
2. You Can Never Have Enough Data: Big Data is another area that everyone in the marketing realm has been chatting about. Even IBM Chairman and CEO Ginni Rometty stated in her keynote at NRF 2014 that Big Data will “give retailers the competitive edge” in years to come. Beacon technology enables retailers to obtain clean and valuable data about their customers. Shoppers will provide all information they are asked for if they are given the right incentives and know their information is secure.
3. You Can Effectively Combat Showrooming: I can see why showrooming is an annoyance for retailers, but you cannot blame shoppers for trying to get the most out of their hard-earned money. A Synqera survey showed that 75% of consumers prefer the in-store experience to online shopping. Having the customers in your store — along with beacon technology — allows you to “turn presence into performance,” something that online retailers are unable to take advantage of, according to Rosen.
4. You Can Tap Into Loyalty Recognition: Rewarding your loyal customers can only be enhanced with beacon technology. The instant connection retailers can have with a customer using beacons allows for almost instant engagement with a target audience that has pledged enough loyalty to your brand by opting-in to your mobile app. As stated earlier (see Number Two), beacon technology is a great way to collect data from customers as long as the incentives are worth their weight. Coupon offers and deal reminders via push notification gives customers the best deals, while providing customers the data they need to further enhance engagement.
5. You Can Improve The Customer’s Shopping Experience: It’s last, but definitely not least. The overall goal of any in-store interaction is to make it enjoyable enough that customers want to come back and shop in the future. With beacon technology, engagement can be personalized to a particular customer’s wants and needs by offering product suggestions and discounts for items that the customer is actually interested in.

Click here to access an on-demand version of the iInside webinar.