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Beacon marketing campaigns working well for retailers
The past year or so we've heard a lot about beacon marketing and in particular, Apple's iBeacon. Now comes word from a company with its own beacon marketing platform -- Swirl Networks -- about the first tangible proof that indoor, location-based short-range beacon marketing is actually effective at engaging shoppers. The idea, if you're not familiar with it, is that you opt in to receiving offers from a retailer by using their app, and as you walk near certain products you're offered information and deals. Swirl's platform is deployed throughout the US and Canada at retailers such as Lord & Taylor, Hudson's Bay, Urban Outfitters, Alex & Ani, Kenneth Cole, and Timberland stores. The company has collected data over the past three months on tens of thousands of interactions by consumers who opted in to receive beacon notifications, and the results are amazing. A full 60 percent of shoppers open and engage with beacon-triggered content, with 30 percent actually redeeming beacon offers when making purchases. A surprising 73 percent of the shoppers said that the content and offers delivered by the beacons as they roam a store increased their likelihood of making a purchase, while 61 percent said they'd do more holiday shopping at stores that offer mobile content and offers while they're shopping. That same number of shoppers said they'd visit a store that features beacon marketing campaigns more often, and 60 percent said they'd buy more as a result of receiving the beacon-triggered ads. This is the first real indication that beacon marketing does work, and may influence even more retailers to jump on the beacon bandwagon in 2015.
iBeacons arrive today in Hudson's Bay, Lord & Taylor stores
Shoppers at Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor stores across Canada and the US are getting an early peek at the future of retail marketing starting today as HBC Department Store Group flips the switch on the Swirl in-store beacon marketing platform. While the systems won't be in place at all stores today, the company's 850,000 square foot flagship store in Toronto and a number of mall and free-standing stores will be equipped with the technology, which uses Bluetooth Smart and Apple's iBeacon technology. Working with a number of company-produced and third-party apps, Swirl's system beams everything from a warm welcome for repeat customers as they enter a store to specific targeted content and offers when a customer enters a specific area of the retail floor. The Swirl setup will work with all iBeacon-enabled retail apps, and has been certified by Apple. The system uses SecureCast beacons that are literally peel-and-stick and can be placed almost anywhere (it's the small white knobby cylinder next to the iPhone below). A marketing console provides a way to create and manage campaigns, with options to target messages based on profile data like a customer's status in a loyalty program, how much they've purchased in the past, or how they're browsing the physical store. Additional reporting and analytics tools give marketing departments information on things like how long a customer actually stays in a portion of a store or redeems a special offer. That information gives the marketers a way to better understand customer trends and improve their campaigns. Swirl beacons are also installed in Kenneth Cole, Timberland, and Alex and Ani stores.
