Is Location-Based Communication the Future of Retail Engagement?

In the retail industry, success hinges on the retailer’s ability to engage with both potential and returning customers. However, considering the number of options available to consumers — from e-commerce platforms offering same-day delivery to online ordering with pickup — it's becoming increasingly difficult for retailers to make these all-important connections.

Thankfully, innovative tools are being introduced to revolutionize the retail experience, allowing retailers to again form meaningful connections with their customers that will contribute to greater customer loyalty and increased sales. The truth of today’s retail sector is that we're beginning to lose touch with the human connection. This is a particularly frightening prospect for retailers the world over.

With retail struggling and options like Amazon.com drawing customers away from physical storefronts, all that brick-and-mortar retailers have left is the human experience. This begs the question: Are retailers automating themselves out of existence?

How Location-Based Communication Solves the Disconnect Happening in Retail

The solution to restoring human connection to the shopping experience is already within the palm of virtually every shopper who walks through the doors of your store. While technology is the cause of many of the separations and detachments we face today, it can be a powerful tool to restore connectivity if used properly, such as in the form of location-based communication platforms.

Unlike social media platforms, which reduce users to data points that can be lucratively sold to advertisers, location-based communication platforms are designed to return the power of choice to users. Each user is geofenced into their own virtual space unless they choose to opt in to share their information. For example, if a user enters a store, they will be given the option to join that store’s community while there. When they leave, they will be returned to their own private digital ecosystem.

How Location-Based Communication Improves CX

Because communities on location-based platforms are private networks curated by users themselves, these platforms have a unique opportunity to serve customers' actual interests. When a user opts into joining a retailer’s digital space, that retailer knows that the user is genuinely interested in its offerings, essentially making that person a warm lead. Retailers can then use this to their advantage to deliver a much better customer experience.

For example, with a location-based platform, a shopper could walk into a store and have access to every employee working there. They no longer need to spend time wandering up and down the aisles looking for an employee to answer their questions.

Furthermore, since users have already expressed interest in particular products from the store, they can be greeted with personalized service or discounts they can use in-store. As a result, customers can save time and money while adding value to their shopping experience.

Location-based communication platforms are the future — not just of the retail sector but also of online communication. As businesses seek new ways to form genuine connections with their customers, it comes as no surprise that the solution we need to pursue is one that emphasizes the element of choice for the customer rather than a model based on marketing to them as data points.

Scott Swanson is the founder and CEO of Bonder, a groundbreaking location-based communication platform revolutionizing how the world connects and communicates.