Beacons

Target, the second largest general merchandise retailer in the U.S., announced this morning that it will start testing beacon technology in 50 of its stores nationwide. With beacon technology, the company says it will be able to send information about deals as well as recommendations directly to consumers’ smartphones, provided they opt in to receive…

This June, the headlines exploded with story after story about Facebook offering free beacons to retailers. Finally, the potential to bring e-commerce-level shopper engagement to brick-and-mortar stores through beacons became more plausible. Since Facebook has a massive, always-on user base, this opens doors for widespread beacon use, overcoming the major hurdle of beacons relying on…

Beacons are a mobile marketing technology poised to transform the way consumers shop in stores and the ways stores market to and interact with their customers. Push notifications triggered by beacons — tiny store-based transmitters that communicate with retailers’ mobile apps on consumers’ smartphones via Bluetooth Low Energy wireless technology — will influence $4.1 billion…

Facebook is offering up free beacons to retailers and businesses using its service as part of an update to the company’s Place Tips feature originally rolled out in January. Place Tips, which works by showing Facebook users posts and photos about a specific retailer or business when they open the app within the actual store,…