As we previously posted, there’s currently a resurgence of the use of beacons in retail. A recent article from Fujitsu says Smart shopping malls thrill visitors, drive profit.
Beacons have been used for years now to trigger offers and information in-store. The beacon marketing ecosystem changed abruptly last November when Google abandoned Nearby smartphone notifications such that all notifications now need an app.
Fujitsu is promoting the merits of having a mall-wide rather than store specific apps. A so called ‘Smart Mall’ can still drive in-store sales through smartphone notifications while at the same time provide increased added value such as mall plans, wayfinding, product comparison and price comparison.
In some ways, getting visitors to download a mall app might be less of a hard sell than downloading an app for each store. This particularly benefits the smaller stores whose apps would never get downloaded.
The data flow can be two way. Shopper movements can be tracked across stores revealing common patterns to aid improvements to flow and identification of dead areas. Sensors can be used to locate and determine the state of equipment, for example letting maintenance staff know when supplies need replenishing. There are also usecases in security preparedness for shoppers, stores and mall security staff.
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