Beaconstac How Retailers can go Omni channel using Beacons 1
Contents Why beacons are the key to omni channel retail 3 What is omni channel and why it is a must have for retailers 3 How retail stores can use beacons to go truly omni channel 4 1. Seamless, consistent retailer/brand experience 4 2. Leverage loyalty 4 3. Contextual relevancy 6 4. Empowered sales associates 6 5. Combination of online and offline shopping 7 6. Contactless payments 7 Examples of stores using beacons to deliver an omni channel experience 7 Takeaways 9 How Retailers can go Omni channel using Beacons 2
Why beacons are the key to omni channel retail Beacons are fast gaining steam as the newest tool in a retailer s repertoire for micro locationbased messaging and delivering personalized content to customers. Beacons are the magical hardware that, we believe, will bridge the online and offline world. Delivering an omni channel experience, however, is not child s play. According to a recent report, retailers are struggling to keep up with the omni channel demand from consumers. Nearly 40 percent of retailers are having difficulty integrating back-office technology across offline, online and mobile. The key solution for integrating these channels could be beacons and indoor location technology. True omni channel presence means developing a variety of strategies in order to embrace opportunities across all channels - including online and offline. Instant information related to products and promotions delivered to mobile customers via beacons in-store enriches the shopping experience, and also gives retailers and brands a 360-degree view of their target audience. This is what beacons do: blur the line between online and offline. What is omni channel and why it is a must have for retailers The consumer of today has been empowered to choose whichever purchasing channels he/ she prefers, using a mix of devices and offline interactions to research and complete that purchase. Marketers have lost the ability to confine and control the consumer journey. This changing landscape means that a global direct-to-consumer strategy has become a must have for not just retailers, but brands too. The widespread adoption of connected devices means customers expect an omni channel shopping experience, be it via mobile, online or instore. How Retailers can go Omni channel using Beacons 3
How retailers can use beacons to go truly omni channel Following are a few ways in which retail stores can use beacons to give their customers an omni channel experience: 1. Seamless, consistent retailer/brand experience Consumers expect an integrated experience across the brick and mortar store, online and mobile, so that they can shop irrespective of where they are. The line between these channels begins to fade as shoppers utilize more than one channel during the buying process (given 84% of shoppers are using their smartphone in-store.) Shoppers can continue from where they left off, with updates on the merchandise, offers on those products added to their mobile cart. The retailer s shopping app is the key player here. The app contains all the information on buying habits, purchase history, favorite sections By Implementing beacons instore, retailers can make the of a customer online etc. These pieces of transition from shopping on information can be tied together to offer a mobile to shopping in-store (and seamless and enjoyable experience to the vice versa) absolutely seamless customer. 2. Leverage loyalty As a business, you need to keep a track of your loyal customers - their favourite products in your store, their shopping behavior online, in-app, and in-store. Although, most businesses today have big data (a lot of it!) about their customers, the winning strategy lies in using this data to provide a better experience to customers. One of the best ways to go omni channel would be to combine a user s loyalty points to offer personalized discounts in-store. With the advent of beacon technology, this is quite possible Retailers can notify customers about discounts as soon as they enter the store. The beacon can notify retailers the number of accumulated loyalty points on a shopper s mobile app. This will help retailers send personalized high-value rewards to customers. For example, if there is a product on a customer s online wishlist, the store can offer a coupon for that product when he/ she visits the physical store. Mobile shoppers spend more in-store. Frequent mobile shoppers spend 25% more in-store than people who occasionally use a mobile phone for shopping. With beacons, retailers are now able to target these customers when they enter a store. Once these Most Valuable Shoppers are identified, retailers can design tailored advertising and customer service How Retailers can go Omni channel using Beacons 4
How to keep your Customers Happy using Beacons 7 Beaconstac
programs, and implement it in real-time while these customers shop. This extra attention to loyal customers can go a long way in decreasing premier membership churn and upgrading membership tiers. 3. Contextual relevancy Beacons provide limitless opportunities for engagement with customers, and it s highly crucial that retailers understand each step in the customer journey to provide contextually relevant functionality specific to location. For example, retailers can leverage beacons to offer suggestions to complete the look by notifying about a shirt that goes well with a blazer, that the shopper bought online. When a user taps on the notification, they can view the suggestion and add items to their shopping list. Retailers can leverage beacons in-store to push notifications on suggestions to add to what a customer has already bought, via their app Retailers can also get customers shopping lists, wishlists and favourites from their app, help them locate these items in-store by guiding them to a relevant aisle. By implementing such in-store reminders on planned purchases, you can ensure that your customers never forget to pick up things they need. 4. Empowered sales associates Retailers can incorporate device-to-device BLE services, to allow their customers to reach out to sales associates from within an app, when in need of assistance. Smart stores can then use the customer s location information to dispatch sales associates to the right department, based on the associate s expertise. Further, beacons can be installed in-store to read loyalty card and relay information to all associates on the floor. Stores can dispatch sales associates to help customers; these associates have access to any particular customer s likes, preferences, items on customer s wishlist and can thus offer the most appropriate suggestion to the customer These beacons can also be set up to read other customer information, items in wishlist, preferences based on Pinterest pins etc. Relaying such important information about your customer to sales associates will help them get a better idea on how to approach a customer. For example, if the customer is someone who usually tends to beeline to the sales rack, the sales associate can directly interest her with the items that recently got added to their sales rack. How Retailers can go Omni channel using Beacons 6
5. Combination of online and offline shopping Retail stores are now offering features such as reserve-in-store and click to collect. These features let online shoppers reserve an item in a store nearby (the nearest store is suggested based on their GPS information) so they can pick it up instead of having it shipped. One would have thought that customers prefer to just buy the product online with a single click, but they don t. The reason could partially be to avoid shipping costs, but the freedom to choose the delivery option plays an important role too. Giving customers the freedom to choose a combination of online and offline shopping - like buy online and pick in-store offers a lot of luxury to the omni channel shopper 6. Contactless payments Beacons can be used in-store to allow shoppers to buy a product in real-time using a mobile device without having to use physical payment options such as cash and credit cards. It also informs passer-bys about various schemes and special offers when they are near a particular store. Integrate your app with Passbook to let customers pay from a virtual wallet - with a single click, using cash or cards Examples of stores using beacons to deliver an omni channel experience 1. Tesco Image Source: ibeacon Retail.nl Tesco is a good example of how BLE can be used to create the most comprehensive omni channel experience across Tesco stores - Tesco.com, Tesco Bank, Tesco Mobile and even the How Retailers can go Omni channel using Beacons 7
recently acquired Giraffe. In April this year, the store announced that it is trialling beacons in its Chelmsford store as part of an experiment with a specific app called MyStore, but is holding off on using beacons for marketing purposes until customers are accustomed to the technology. The MyStore concept involves an app that allows customers to create a shopping list at home and when in-store, click a button to tell them the precise location of these products. Its data is held in one place, so the company will have a pretty good idea of who those customers are and will be able to offer a great shopping experience to them. 2. Apple stores Apple recently installed beacons across 254 stores to deliver contextaware messages. Beacons track customers movement inside an Apple store, to offer information such as order status, price comparison and more. The Apple Store app has a store-specific dashboard. It includes the barcode-based EasyPay system, Get Help and Get Support options. Customers walking into Apple stores receive a range of context-specific messages and opportunities through the app. 3. Alex and Ani Alex and Ani, a jewelry brand, recently deployed beacons in an effort to retain customers and subtly encourage them to purchase more. It also helps them compare various product offerings by placing them differently in-store. For example, if they notice that their customer base has shifted to mostly men ahead of Valentine s Day, then realigning products in store could result in better sales. How Retailers can go Omni channel using Beacons 8
To-do list before deploying beacons Choose the right technology and a scalable backend architecture Plan data warehouses and intelligence dashboards that monitor buyer analytics Create brand awareness through optimized user experiences and personalized offers Optimize continuously through app upgrades and innovative uses of beacon technology Offer the most appropriate incentive at the most relevant time during the buying cycle Exceed customer expectation with unmatched service and contactless payment options Internalize that buying happens across devices - online, offline and mobile Empower omni channel customer champions How Retailers can go Omni channel using Beacons 9
About Beaconstac Beaconstac enables businesses to deliver superior customer experiences through the use of Beacons for engagement, messaging, and analytics API-driven platform with fully native ios and Android SDKs Integration with CRM, Content management, Ecommerce backend through webhooks Beacon-agnostic software platform For more information, visit: www.beaconstac.com To the Beaconstac blog: http://blog.beaconstac.com Follow us on Twitter: @Beaconstac How Copyright to keep 2014, your Mobstac Customers Inc. All Happy rights reserved. using Beacons 14