Retail sales have been declining since 2008. Beacon technology can help retailers drive more retail sales by leveraging the power of their customers to predict what they want before it arrives in stores and deliver a personalized shopping experience that goes higher customer lifetime value (CLV). Beacon technology is a new way of interacting with retail customers. It allows retailers to send notifications, advertisements, and marketing messages directly to the customer’s phone. This article will explore how the beacon technology works, what it can do for your business, and how you can use it in your store today. With the popularity of online shopping increasing, merchants must find innovative methods to keep their consumers interested to increase sales. Retail stores are no longer just competing with one another. Consumers may buy for almost anything from the comfort of their own homes or ecommerce stores while on the road. You’ll struggle to survive in the following years if your retail firm can’t adapt to new technologies and trends. Beacon technology is something your company should thoughtfully consider. While the phrase may seem futuristic and complicated, it is pretty straightforward. Beacons, similar to GPS, will be used to monitor your consumers. Although beacons and GPS are sometimes mistaken and conflated, they are not the same.
To function, GPS technology requires three essential components:
- satellites
- stations on the ground
- receivers
Satellites deliver signals to receivers, such as a mobile phone or a vehicle, which compute their distance. Consequently, these computations may determine the precise location of the receiver. Beacons are simpler. These gadgets are tiny and inexpensive. They are powered by batteries. Beacons don’t broadcast their positions to many satellites; instead, they communicate their whereabouts with devices to read their identities. Beacons are simple to place at your retail shop locations. By customizing the consumer experience, using this technology in your retail stores can help you improve sales. This is the definitive guide for anybody who has never utilized beacon technology before.
Steps to use Beacon technology to boost store sales:
1. Customers should be encouraged to download your mobile app.
The first step is to encourage consumers to download your mobile application. If you don’t have an app for your retail business, you’ll have to put your beacon technology plan on wait until you have one. Your app is a fantastic approach to boost sales by enticing people to spend money on their phones. Unfortunately, many company owners I’ve talked with are afraid to build applications for their retail establishments. They don’t believe it is required since their customers prefer to purchase in person rather than online. While some consumers prefer to view, touch, feel, and try on products in person rather than online, the truth is that they are still utilizing mobile devices. 80% of individuals have used their mobile devices to enhance their shopping experiences in physical locations. This is how users interact with their devices:
You must ensure that your mobile app has all of these features. If you believe your app may need some work, check out my guide to the most popular features in a mobile commerce app. Unless your software enhances people’s purchasing experiences, they won’t download it. However, if your software achieves everything on the list above, it will be simpler to gain more downloads. However, you can’t just assume that your clients will download it since the app is accessible. It would be best to publicize it via all of your distribution channels. On your website, provide a link to the app store. Make a social media post about it. In your email campaigns, provide a download link. Offer a voucher or a discount on their next purchase as an incentive for consumers to download it. You’ll be able to deploy beacons to boost sales after the app is loaded on their mobile devices.
2. Keep an eye on what’s going on in your businesses.
You can monitor how customers shop if you have beacons installed throughout your business. It’s straightforward. When a consumer using your app walks by a beacon, it signals to the Beacon. This is a graphic depiction of how it works:
As you can see, the consumer receives a targeted, tailored message after the example. However, before sending a message, ensure that appropriate parameters have been set up. Here’s what I’m talking about. Let’s pretend you own a clothes business. A male consumer walks in to purchase a new pair of jeans using your mobile app on his smartphone. He must, however, travel through the baby clothing and footwear to reach the men’s jeans area. It’s useless if you have beacons in specific retail locations that automatically trigger a notification regarding those departments. This tactic, in reality, is likely to backfire. Push notifications are irritating and bothersome to 52 percent of app users.
Furthermore, 46% of consumers will turn off push notifications from the same app if they get more than two in a week. And 32% of users will uninstall an app if they get six or more alerts every week. Make sure your message is current and relevant, which I’ll go into more depth later. If a user spends a lot of time near a particular beacon, you may send them a message. If the shopper in the above example spends 15 minutes in the men’s jeans area, it’s reasonable to assume they’re looking for that item.
3. Improve the navigation in-store.
If you own a small boutique retail business, your consumers may not need much assistance navigating. The design is most likely self-explanatory. However, this isn’t the case at every store. It’s easy to get lost in these large stores at times. Customers spend more time attempting to figure out where they are than purchasing. So what method do you have in place to assist consumers in navigating the store? Perhaps there’s a shop map at the front door or signage above each aisle. However, if you’re on aisle 14 and the product you’re searching for is in aisle 26, it won’t assist you. They won’t travel back to the entrance to study the map, and they won’t read the signage from that distance. This is how retail stores have traditionally operated. However, thanks to technological advancements, you can now include a map feature in your mobile app. Take a look at how Target puts a unique spin on this specific feature:
Customers may use this application to make a shopping list before visiting a retail store. The map will show them where to locate the goods they need when they arrive. This makes it simple for them to find their way around the business without becoming disoriented. In addition, beacons strategically positioned throughout the shop will indicate where the item is concerning the phone signal.
4. Send discounts promptly.
As I previously said, any communications you send to your consumers should be timely and relevant. You can’t go wrong with sending a discount most of the time. Everyone is looking for a bargain. Consider the purchasing experience from your consumers’ point of view. They get a notice on their mobile as they go around the shop. Which type of message do you believe would persuade them to buy? “Winter coats and jackets are on sale!” or “All winter coats and jackets are 20% discount!” This is a question that is meant to be rhetorical. The lower price is more appealing. Furthermore, customers are most likely to consent to in-store monitoring and push alerts if they get discounts or coupons.
Please keep it simple and stick to what you know your clients desire. Don’t make things any more complicated than they need to be. They’ll be annoyed if you send them a push notice or message for anything other than a deal. Then you risk the consumer deactivating their location settings or turning off your app’s push alerts.
5. Customers in the area should be targeted.
Customers do not have to be present in your business to benefit from beacon technology promotions. Beacons may be used to target clients who are nearby. You may convey a message to clients by placing beacons throughout your business, giving them a cause to come in and shop. Take a look at this Charlotte Russe example:
This push message might be issued to a consumer who passes a beacon near the shop. Look at the time this message was sent for a minute. It echoes what I said before regarding timely discounts. The in-store offer will take place from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Someone in the neighborhood received the push message at 2:40 p.m. This method may also be used to execute flash sales and other promotions. Sending an in-store offer to someone in the region makes a lot more sense than sending it to every single app user. The advertising will be irrelevant to those who are not in the area.
6. Enhance the client profiles.
Everything I’ve said thus far has to do with time about shopper behavior. However, you may also use beacon technology for future activities. Gather information on how people shop at your business. Then, using that data, enhance their profiles. You’re undoubtedly sending customized suggestions to your clients right now based on data like web browsing habits and purchase history. If a consumer looks at headphones online but doesn’t buy them, you might send them a follow-up email the following day with a coupon for headphones. Using beacon technology, you can accomplish the same. If it enhances their buying experience, consumers are eager to provide personal information:
Younger generations are more comfortable with technology than older generations, as shown by the facts. However, a Millennial is more likely than a Baby Boomer to download your retail app on their phone, so you should be ok here. Furthermore, to utilize beacons, you’ll need to ask consumers for location permission when they install your app on their devices. You’d be infringing on their privacy if you didn’t. Customers that spend more time in particular areas of your retail business are interested in those items. That information should be included in their customer profiles. Recommend those sorts of things on their homepages the next time they start the app or buy online while logged into their accounts.
7. Make use of beacons in your ecommerce store.
The bulk of the concepts this article addresses applies to physical retail businesses. Yes, there were several instances of how retail purchasing behavior might enhance online shopping. However, beacon technology may be employed in ecommerce businesses that do not have physical locations. All you have to do now is be a little more inventive. For starters, for this method to succeed, you must still persuade your clients to download your app. Regardless of what happens, keep your focus on it. Take a look at the growing trend in mobile commerce:
Then you may place beacons in areas that are relevant to your product. Here’s what I’m talking about. You may place beacons near a beach if you sell surfboards, kayaks, paddleboards, and other watercraft. When a consumer uses your app to travel to the beach, they will notice those goods. You may place beacons outside of numerous sports stadiums if your ecommerce store offers sports jerseys and other fan clothing. Customers who stroll past Fenway Park in Boston, for example, will get a reminder about reduced Red Sox jerseys and caps. This makes more sense than sending them a notice about a Los Angeles-based team. The promotions are still relevant and current, which enhances the user experience. This form of communication would almost certainly persuade the app user to purchase from your ecommerce store.
Conclusion
If retailers want to thrive now and in the future, they must adapt to new technological developments. For your retail business, beacon technology is a terrific place to start. First and foremost, you must ensure that your mobile app is downloaded by as many users as possible. Then you may use beacons to track their purchase habits across your business. Use this data to deliver customers timely, relevant, and tailored communications that will enhance their shopping experience and increase sales. Customers in the neighborhood of your store may be targeted with beacons to get them to come in and purchase something. You’ll be able to update consumer profiles if you gather data on their in-store buying habits. This technology may also assist ecommerce businesses that do not have physical locations. To identify areas for your beacons, you need to think outside the box. With the use of beacon technology, your retail stores and ecommerce businesses will produce more sales if you follow the guidelines I’ve given above.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does beacon technology work in retail?
A: Beacons are electronic devices that transmit radio waves to receivers. The Beacon has an antenna, and the receiver picks up these signals with its antenna. These two antennas then communicate with each other by electromagnetic induction or magnetic coupling — most often using near-field inductive communication (NFC) technology, which is short-range but works reliably under non-ideal conditions like when both antennas are embedded within objects of differing dimensions.
How do you use beacon technology?
A: Beacons are devices that can be set up around a property to take care of specific tasks. They include sending you alerts when someone enters the building, turning lights on or off remotely, and opening doors for visitors. It’s similar to how GPS systems work in cars but much more advanced because they don’t rely on satellites bouncing signals back and forth.
How do you drive sales performance in retail?
A: To increase sales performance in retail, one must first understand their customers and what motivates them to purchase. This is the best path for increasing your company’s sales volume and profits. With this knowledge, you can devise effective marketing strategies that will drive more people into buying from your store.
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