Use Proximity Marketing Campaigns For An Unforgettable Experience

By Frida Cooper

One of the benefits of being a retailer is that you're presented with various opportunities to know your customer. By employing some of the basic rules of marketing, you can know the habits of your long-standing customers and use competitive pricing strategies to earn new interested customers.

In recent times, technological advancement has brought the market much closer to consumers, and you can use it for the advantage of your business as well. More than 1.6 million people are always connected to the internet, and many of them are interested in online shopping, marketing for new services and looking for novel ideas every day.

This is where proximity marketing can buffer your retail marketing strategy. Many popular brands have used proximity marketing to generate sales.

Proximity Marketing Campaigns

If reports are to be agreed with, more than 5 billion devices are currently connected to the internet, and more than 50 percent of the consumers in the U.S. are willing to share their locations to receive location-based advertising.

Using iBeacon technology or Google’s Eddystone, you can allow consumers to opt in for push messages and offers. Using general patterns, you can understand their needs and interests in your brand. Here are six retailers that have deployed proximity marketing campaigns:

1. Macy’s:

On Thanksgiving, Macy’s used Bluetooth devices across its various locations as well as beacon triggers (specifically Apple’s iBeacon technology) to send push notifications to those around its Herald Square store.

This was an easier way to send discount coupons to anyone who was in proximity of the store. In addition to competitive pricing, Macy’s made use of the location knowledge to ensure that the holiday season gave everyone around its store much cheer and festivity.

More than 63 percent of consumers find coupons as one of the best mobile marketing techniques, and Macy’s capitalized on this demand. All consumers had to do was switch on the Bluetooth devices on their phones and the location to get instant access to discount offers from Macy's.

2. Wal-Mart:

Using its association with GE (General Electronics), Wal-Mart has launched a trial for iBeacon technology, wherein the devices are installed in the light bulbs created by GE. These beacons track shoppers in-store, and once they've opted in for receiving push messages, Wal-Mart can send them sale offers, discount coupons or small surveys to understand their behavior.

The information Wal-Mart gleans can be used to introduce competitive pricing for its products or services in the market and foster better connectivity with its customers.

3. Lord & Taylor:

Post its smashing success in 2014 with beacon technology, Lord & Taylor expanded its use of beacons to more than 50 stores in the U.S. The idea was to reach the hyperlocal consumer database and provide them with great discounts and offers.

It’s not only discount coupons that you can provide as a retailer. Lord & Taylor also came up with styling tips for its customers and partnered with Michael Kors and other third-party brands to give variety to the messages they were sending to their customers’ phones.

4. McDonald’s:

The fast-food giant decided to launch its new line of coffee-flavored beverages in 15 restaurants in Istanbul using beacon technology. It employed a popular app called Shopping Genie to push out discount coupons on its new beverages to those who were around the restaurants.

Along with a competitive pricing strategy, McDonald’s ensured that consumers received a coupon for purchasing a drink, as well as given a free drink from their new line of beverages.

5. Nordstrom:

This retail store is a classic example of connecting the offline with the online. Using proximity marketing, Nordstrom ensures that its products are available to customers both online and offline, wherever they choose to buy.

If a product is available in-store, for example, consumers in the store can receive an app notification. Nordstrom uses the data collected to study customers’ purchase patterns and keep them up-to-date with offers.

6. Walgreens:

With more than 7,000 locations, Walgreens has pioneered innovation when it comes to beacon technology. The drug store chain ensures that its customers don’t just receive pop-up notifications with regards to offers and discounts in-store, but also provides them with valuable information through its app.

Duane Reed, which is owned by Walgreens, used beacon technology to amp up its loyalty program by giving out rewards to those users who were in the drugstore.

These are just some of the many businesses that are leveraging proximity marketing to get insight into the behaviors of their customers. As a retailer, proximity marketing ensures that your customers have access to your product promptly. You can innovate your business strategy to connect to your customers and generate better revenues than you ever have.

Frida Cooper is a retail analytics researcher at Intelligence Node, a big data firm helping brands and retailers with pricing and merchandising analytics.