VMOB At Cutting Edge of Beacon-Mania Trend

VMOB At Cutting Edge of Beacon-Mania Trend

• Home-grown innovation and customisation unleashing true beacon potential
• Kiwi retailers jumping on global trend urged to do their homework
• Beyond serving ads: VMob’s harnessing beacon technology for shopper analysis

Prominent Kiwi mobile marketing company VMob (NZAX: VML) is redefining the potential around beacons for retailers here and abroad as the much-hyped mobile marketing trend takes hold.

Retailers rushing to deploy beacon technology are at risk not maximising its potential by launching without a robust strategic engagement plan, strong business case or sufficient usage controls – effectively reversing the engagement by turning shoppers off due to quick-fire beacon activation.

The real value in using beacons lies in giving retailers the ability to be very targeted with their advertising, in many cases serving less advertising, but ads served are more effective.

VMob’s in-store beacon functionality out-smarts competitors with direct integration into the VMob platform built in-house, rather than by a third-party, to seamlessly combine with other live data points such as location history, in-app browsing data, local weather and social media profile data to personalise campaigns.

VMob’s beacon offering is cemented in the approach that shoppers should only receive beacon related content when it’s relevant, not every time they walk past a particular item. Extensive internal testing was undertaken before making the beacon platform available to customers, including establishing dummy virtual store layouts to test various location based and targeting functions.

VMob CEO Scott Bradley says retailers have a right to be cautious about rolling out beacon technology.

“It’s a very personal step to start communicating with a shopper based on exactly where they are in the store and when you get personal there’s even greater risk if you get it wrong.

“Where beacons are used effectively, retailers are seeing a reaction of surprise and delight from consumers, rather than any negative back-lash.”

Beyond simply using beacons to trigger a push message based on proximity to a beacon, generally the most basic use, customisation of an app based on shopper location within a store amplifies engagement and relevance. For example, an app changing as customers approach ordering in a QSR, interactive advertising campaigns and loyalty programmes based on search terms or even to identify VIP customers.

In-store traffic analysis is another distinct beacon functionality provided by VMob, where a beacon may not actually serve to a shopper’s smartphone but instead can report data back to a secure server. Intelligence is collected on shopper volumes in particular store areas, interaction with the app and dwell times – giving retailers valuable information to optimise store layouts and improve foot traffic flow.

VMob is currently working with customers in the initial stages of beacon rollouts in New Zealand, Australia and Europe.

FAST FACTS: Beacon technology

• A beacon is a stand-alone radio transmitter - it cannot interact with a shopper’s phone in any way unless an app on a shopper’s phone, that is specifically written to look for that particular beacon signal, is installed

• Once the relevant app has been installed, a shoppers phone will interact with the beacon once a signal is detected – serving information directly to the shopper

• Even with a beacon-enabled app on a phone, the consumer must still grant that app access to location services (much the same as an app that uses GPS) before the app will be able to scan and detect signals from beacons that will drive content

ends

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