Ibeacon Technology - A Boon for Retailers and Businesses
IBeacon is the new buzz in the technology market. Since 2013 there have been discussions and hype about this new innovation but the real usage and understanding is still unexplored and unclear among the crowd. After indoor positioning of Wi-fi, the new technology that has created a boom in the market is the beacon technology which has given new power to the smart phones. If there was one-piece that was missing in the whole mobile –shopping puzzle it was exactly this one.
What exactly is Beacon technology?
It is basically a communication technology that uses BLE (Bluetooth Low energy) for transferring personal data and has a wireless personal area network working over short distances and consumes less energy and cost. It is very similar to its predecessor Bluetooth which is used for transferring data of high application. It is a one-way communication method in which beacons that want to be discovered will send data that can be used for a variety of smart phones applications, prompts, and pushup messages. A standard beacon has a broadcast range of 100 meters.
How is it useful to retailers?
Let’s just take a typical scenario in which consumer carrying a smart phone enters a store. Apps installed on the consumer’s smart phone will listen to these ibeacon technology (by beacon we mean he will get a message, a trigger in his mobile ) and this trigger could be of any sale in the store, a coupon or anything of the sort. There are other potential market can be at airports, concerts, theme parks, venues – the list is limitless. This is the key part, the retailer can push timely messages to the customer promoting products or providing other useful information. This technology can bring an exemplar change in the way marketing is done through mobiles.
ibeacon marketing is an extension to the physical world and will definitely be widely used in the coming few years. Businesses of all size need to rethink on the technology that they are working into. Stores like Home Depot and Target have given positive reviews about beacons. The biggest advantage that you get is the customer’s walks in and gets a bit of personalized experience in their smart phone. Marketing over smart phone would not just restrict itself to providing digital coupons but will also help them to provide loyalty, provide indoor heat maps, over the air transactions etc. The use of this technology is endless and totally potential.
The way we want to leverage this technology totally depends on the understanding achieved by the usage of the customer. It then becomes a two –way process let’s say you can give a personal recommendation to the customer, you can help a confused customer to buy what he wants.
Retail is the biggest user of ibeacon marketing and there have been hitters like Lord Taylor’s and Macy’s who have employed these apps. But retail is just one market to talk of; there are several kinds of businesses that can benefit. Airlines, Concerts, Car parking services are another market to look forward.
Visit Mobiquitynetworks.com for more information on the proximity beacon systems.
About The Author
Annalise Gibbens is an expert in digital marketing and a dedicated advocate of the mobile advertising revolution that has begun to take over the corporate world in the recent years. She recommends MobiquityNetworks.com as the name that you should be trusting if you are looking for iBeacon technology, mobile marketing solutions and more.