Beacon Technology : 3 Brands Share their Success Stories

Beacons have invaded every sphere of our lives.

You will find these in retail stores, football stadiums, airports, fashion outlets, libraries and now banks, too, have geared up for using this technology for improving in-branch experience.

The point is, Beacon Technology, is already been seen upto as the next big thing for brands that heavily rely on PROXIMITY MARKETING.

For those of you, who are not aware of this tech, head on to this article.

In 2014, 8% of US retail locations were equipped with beacon technology, according to BI Intelligence. This figure is expected to hit 32% in 2015 and 85% in 2016.

Half of the top 100 retailers in the U.S. were testing beacons in 2014. This new technology is expected to be found in 1/3 of their store locations by the end of 2015.

The beacon base in the US will consist of 4.5 million active beacons by the end of 2018, with 3.5 million of these devices in use by retailers.

Source: Business Insider

Beacon Technology is turning out to be a game-changer for multichannel retailers and fasion & electronic outlets as it allows sending custom notifications to customers while they are in-store. Now, these notifications could range from videos to product promotions to showcasing store maps.

It is even acting as a great tool to offer customized loyalty offers. Beacons help set up highly personalized messages by helping segment purchase behavior, demographics, heavy app users and returning visitors.

Here are 3 brands that are doing it RIGHT when it comes to BEACONS…

Hillshire Brands

As a distributor of cured meat products, Hillshire Brands, (in collaboration with inMarket and BPN) used the beacon technology to push notifications regarding their products and promotions to customers while they were inside the store.

And, the results were phenomenal.

The brand’s goal was to improve brand awareness for its product called American Craft Link Sausages.

There was a 20x increase in purchase intent when customers were exposed to in-store messaging on their mobile devices. It also saw over 500% increase over the CPG for average mobile ads.

The iBeacon campaign not only allowed them to improve sales, it also uplifted brand awareness by almost 36%. Studies, such as the one conducted by inMarket, clearly prove that customers are 19x more likely to engage with an advertised product in-store after receiving personalized messages.

By being an early adopter of this tech, Hillshire Brands, indeed saw huge returns coming in within a very short span of time.

McDonalds

This brand needs no introduction. We are all lovers of the BIG MAC.

The Fast Food Giant tested Apple’s iBeacons in some limited locations across Columbus. The campaign involved sending information on attractive deals via push notifications to customers who downloaded its mobile app.

The location-based message was sent once a customer came in contact with beacons. This was actually a four-week test conducted before rolling out the campaign to other locations.

The results were good enough.

McChicken saw an 8% increase in sales, where the same was 7.5% for McNuggets. There were almost 18,000 offer redemptions across the stores.

American Eagle

Back in January 2014, American Eagle Outfitters in collaboration with Shopkick installed the shopBeacon technology over 100 locations.

The initial test involved sending messages to customers when they entered into the store, which meant little incentive for visiting the fitting rooms. Subsequently, the data proved that the percentage of Shopkick users who went to the fitting room to try on clothes was more than twice for those who received the shopBeacon messages vis-a-vis for the ones who didn’t receive the message.

Offering timely rewards to customers impacted their sales significantly.

Lessons to Learn

• Understand the nuances of implementing iBeacons. Don’t do it just for the sake of doing it. Just because your competitor rolled out the technology, does not mean you need it to.

• Focus on improving the experience of your customers and addressing their real in-store problems. See if the Beacon Technology can, truly, help you answer the tough questions.

• Deliver timely, contextual information that your customers are looking for. Give them what they want to see while they are in-store and you will do wonders.

Good luck

If you know of any other brand that has benefitted dramatically from iBeacons, please share in the comments below.