More than 50 per cent of marketers in different industries have been using proximity technology (such as beacons) for their business, according to Unacast research recently reported (Q2 2016).

Proximity technology will soon be revolutionising the whole retail experience and take over traditional marketing practices.

Beyond simple promotion tools

Marketers are aware of both context and content these days. “Content is king while context is queen,” said Victor Bogey, the CEO of Ubudu Asia, “but proximity (or contextual) technology is more than just sending promotional messages, it’s about offering value-added services to customers in physical venues.”

From raising awareness to in-store experience and finally re-targeting, the marketing services enabled by proximity technology can enhance every stage of the customer journey.

Proximity marketing throughout the customer journey

Raise awareness and draw customers to store

Through proximity advertising, brands can create modern campaigns with extended customer engagement: usual physical display would be connected to mobile to show digital content such as video, games, promotions, etc. For example, JCDecaux is offering its clients to engage further with travellers in Singapore and Hong Kong airports by shaking their phone on WeChat when near a JCDecaux media. The Ubudu beacon-enabled media will deliver digital content to the travelers’ mobile so they can participate to a game or enjoy exclusive promotions to be redeemed in Airport Duty Free stores.

Personalise the in-store customer experience

Similarly to the personalisation on eCommerce platforms, proximity technology enables physical stores to leverage customer data to make sure their customer experience is seamless and tailored to their needs.

For instance, a leading supermarket chain in France is deploying a Ubudu solution to enhance the in-store customer experience:

• Personalised greetings are sent to customers’ mobile phones as they enter the store, giving them a warm welcome and offering to view their precise position on the indoor map.
• Based on the customer’s profile and shopping list, the customer will view on the map or receive automatic promotional and informative messages in different areas of the store. If needed, customers can also request staff assistance with just one click on the app without the need to have an internet connection (store assistants will receive the request automatically and see the location of the customer to go and assist).
• When checking out, the e-loyalty card will pop up at the cashier enabling seamless scanning and customer can receive a loyalty point update message immediately upon exit.

Analyse customer behavior to retarget and retain

Using proximity technology, retailers will collect a new type of information about their customers: location data. Using this data, they would be able to understand traffic flows in their venue, how to optimise their product shelving strategy and staff presence. Compared to Wifi or Camera tracking, using iBeacon solutions enables to track individual paths throughout the shopper journey and recognise when the same customer is coming back. This is why traffic analytics companies are partnering up with proximity technology providers such as Ubudu Asia.

For example, large supermarket chains and shopping malls are currently using Ubudu proximity solutions to gain insights from customers’ behavior in the venue depending on the time, day and customer profile. This enables them to make data-driven decisions for their retail-mix, staff management and pricing strategy.

Ubudu Asia will revolutionise the retail in-store experience

Advanced proximity technology is required to add value to the customer experience and to collect useful data. The technology should have high accuracy of the user positioning, precise targeting rules based on customer data (location data, behavior and needs), it should also work in areas with no or poor internet connectivity. This is where Ubudu Asia’s solution stands out with its uBeacon Mesh and powerful software that has already been proven to be successful for large scale deployments such as The Louvre Museum, McDonald’s and Carrefour.

• For more information about Ubudu Asia or to contact them visit the company’s website.