Beacon Technology for Retail Programs | Tailoring Messages at Store Level

Source    :insights.samsung
By        : Deena M. Amato-Mccoy

Category  : Beacon Technology Nepal, Beacon in Retails

BEACON TECHNOLOGY FOR RETAIL PROGRAMS: TAILORING MESSAGES AT STORE LEVEL

Personalization is the key to driving loyalty, yet retailers still struggle to make a one-on-one connection with their most valuable store-level shoppers. The addition of beacon technology for retail programs is changing this paradigm by driving a new level of customer engagement through personalization — a move that creates a valuable loyalty proposition in an omnichannel retail model.

In-store personalization has been a longtime goal for retailers industry-wide. While progress has been made, efforts often still miss the mark. According to research from beacon marketing platform provider Swirl Networks presented by FierceRetail, only 25 percent of consumers believe that brick-and-mortar retailers regularly demonstrate an understanding of their individual preferences.

This indicates that while retailers are eager to earn shoppers’ loyalty, the inability to connect with shoppers on an individual level makes it difficult for brands to close the communication gap. It’s exactly this dilemma that makes beacon technology such a powerful option. However, there are a number of steps to take before getting a beacon program underway.

Delving into Data

As consumers’ infatuation with mobile solutions continues to rise, customer engagement — and personalization — is attracting renewed focus. But focusing on devices alone will not be enough to keep brands a step ahead of the competition. The clear winners will be those retailers that can truly understand their customers’ needs, and use these insights (via messages) to drive value throughout their purchase journeys.

As retailers decipher how to connect with shoppers while they’re making purchase decisions, more are eager to harness the power of consumer smartphones. Within five years, 53 percent of retailers plan to begin identifying customers via smartphones when they walk into the store — this is a significant jump from the six percent of companies currently utilizing this technology, as discussed in a session conducted by Boston Retail Partners at Shop.org’s 2015 Digital Summit in Philadelphia.

With a plan in place, retailers must determine how to create more specific, targeted messages that not only increase levels of customer engagement but also deliver a call to action to the shopper. By leveraging collected shopper data, retailers are laying the groundwork for the next stage of personalization. In fact, 22 percent of consumers are happy to share some data in return for a more personalized customer service or product, according to a 2015 report from Deloitte. Once this information is in hand, retailers can jump-start personalization efforts with beacon technology.

Harnessing the Power of Beacons

At the size of a quarter, beacons are low-power, microlocation gadgets that use Bluetooth technology to transmit signals to mobile devices. By combining the technology with smart devices’ integrated geolocation technology, retailers can use beacons to deliver real-time, one-to-one personalized digital service to shoppers as they navigate through store aisles or promotional displays.

Beacons are such a powerful engagement tool that 70 percent of companies plan to add the functionality over the next five years, according to data shared during Boston Retail Partners’ session.

Unwilling to wait, GameStop is already exploring the power of beacons. In September 2014, GameStop added up to 14 beacons at approximately 40 locations across its test markets in Austin and College Station, Texas, according to a company statement. Deployed in dedicated store zones separated by product categories, the beacons require shoppers to move smartphones close to devices installed on store shelving. The technology delivers shoppers real-time, customized offers via the retailer’s app.

“Digitization of the physical retail space has always been a top priority of GTI,” says Charlie Larkin, senior director of technology innovation at GameStop, in the press release. “Learning from our initial deployment of the iBeacon platform, there are numerous ways to leverage the emerging technology to deliver a next-generation shopping experience.”

As customer loyalty becomes increasingly hard to cultivate in an omnichannel world, retailers need to find a new way to connect with shoppers. By using beacon technology for retail to personalize the shopping experience, brick-and-mortar stores are driving customer engagement to turn shoppers into loyal brand advocates.

(Read More : insights.samsung.com/2016/01/25/beacon-technology-for-retail-programs-tailoring-messages-at-store-level/)

In-Store Beacons | A “Recipe” for a new shopping experience

Source    : fuel marketer news
By        : Associated Press
Category  : In-store Beacon, Beacon Technology Nepal

At this year’s NRF Annual Convention & EXPO in New York City, beacons are gaining even more attention among retailers and mobile apps as a way to re-invent the consumer experience. A particularly unique example is Allrecipes, the world’s largest food-focused social network that provides home cooks access to millions of peer-created recipes, collections, reviews, grocery savings and photos across desktop, tablet and phone.

In addition to serving as an indispensable resource for cooks – 90% of whom use recipes to inform their grocery purchases, Allrecipes offers a valuable end-to-end solution for advertisers, allowing them to connect with these shoppers at multiple points of their shopping journey to shape purchase decisions through high-tailored, highly-targeted native advertising solutions.

Allrecipes is currently piloting Verifone’s in-store beacon system to test beacon-triggered experiences that enhance the in-store grocery shopping experience for Allrecipes app users, and allow participating CPG brands’ to engage consumers as they shop through timely, useful brand-centric moments. At Verifone’s booth, attendees can get a first-hand look at how the Allrecipes Dinner Spinner app works with beacons to create a unique, engaging shopping experience.

The Allrecipes Dinner Spinner app contains Verifone’s SDK, which essentially enables beacons at Verifone’s in-store payment terminals to trigger the app.
Here’s what it looks like from the shopper’s perspective:

1. The user downloads the Allrecipes Dinner Spinner app to his or her iOS or Android smartphone or tablet.

2. Upon entering a grocery store equipped with Verifone beacon technology, the shopper’s smartphone receives a signal from the beacon via Bluetooth.

3. Next, the Allrecipes Dinner Spinner app opens on the consumer’s smartphone, and the beacon network captures the beacon and app ID—enabling the app to deliver recipes based on the individual user and specific grocery store.

4. The user can then purchase the ingredients while they shop in the store using this highly personalized service.

Everyone benefits from what has become a more valuable and dynamic user experience. Allrecipes cooks receive top-rated, locally relevant recipe ideas delivered through a preferred channel at the exact moment they’re seeking meal solutions; advertisers reach consumers during critical micro-moments along the path to purchase through placement of their brands’ products in the recipes’ ingredients lists. And, of course, grocery stores benefit through increased sales and the ability to provide a more engaging consumer experience. Because recipes and corresponding ingredients lists are based on the specific user and grocery store, grocers can elect to have recipes come up that promote special sale items, and they can also use the recipes as opportunities to promote companion items such as wine.

Retailers are piloting Verifone’s beacon system as well. One such pilot, which is also being demoed at Verifone’s booth, opens the retailer’s app on users’ devices as soon as they walk into one of its stores—inviting them to view or redeem loyalty points to make in-store purchases, or apply for the retailer’s branded credit card.

BI Intelligence estimates that nearly 4.5 million beacons will be deployed by 2018. Fortunately, this will be made easier with payment technology innovations such as Verifone Engage, Verifone’s recently unveiled line of in-store payment terminals, which is also being showcased at NRF. These commerce enabled devices will feature built-in beacon technology, increasing retailers’ ability to seamlessly enhance the in-store experience for consumers, while at the same time providing app developers a simple and effective way to leverage Verifone’s extensive global footprint to quickly get their apps to market.

(Read More : fuelmarketernews.com/in-store-beacons-a-recipe-for-a-new-shopping-experience/)

Beacon Technology Nepal | Five Ways Beacon Technology Will Transform Retail

Source    :cxotoday
By        :  Krishna Prasad
Category  : Beacon Technology Nepal, Beacon in retails

It felt like every aspect of our lives, especially retail, went online while brick and mortar stores suffered. But interestingly, although it may seem like all things moved digital, it is important to keep in mind that only 10% of most retailers are online.

Since most stores still work offline, an extremely unique opportunity presents itself.  Instead of online and offline competing against each other, they can work together to emerge as a powerful combination. It is easy to understand how people would think that online and offline would be a threat to one another but, if combined, they actually bring the consumer and retailer together like never before, enhancing the overall experience of retail.

Retailers are quickly finding out that technology can help their consumers discover products in a more in-depth manner. This creates consumer experiences that adapt with ever changing consumer behaviors and trends.

This is where beacons come in. Beacons are small, battery-operated, low-cost, wireless devices that continuously convey a simple low-energy Bluetooth signal.  According to IDC, the installed base of the IoT will be 212 billion devices by 2020, which will include 30 billion connected “things”. This is similar to other estimates by research organizations like Gartner. Gartner points out that in 2009 there were 2.5 billion connected devices. By 2020, there will be more than 30 billion in a variety of shapes and forms.

The signals emitted by beacons can be picked up by Apps on smartphones. The actions beacons can perform based on location, time and proximity are endless. They have the power to transform the way we live our lives. Here are five ways in which beacon technology will change retail in the coming year.

1. Beacons allow retailers to get a complete profile of their consumers.  

Beacons have the ability to single out potential customers. They will identify the customer and send personalized messages inviting them to the store based on collected data. This data helps retailers understand the consumer and their buying patterns and preferences. Beacons connect to the consumer’s personal device, customize messages, and connect with the consumer on a more personal level.

2. Timing, timing, timing!

Beacons push personalized deals and promotions just in time to impact sales in an enormous way. Through location based technology, the beacon can assess when the consumer is in the area and more importantly, near the store. It will send targeted, timely messages of deals that are occurring at that moment straight to the customer’s mobile device, the impact of real time messaging is huge.

3. Establishing a more fulfilling customer experience

Retailers have noticed that IoT can greatly improve customer experiences. Specifically, retailers are using IoT to pull consumers and provide them with products that have been contextualized and personalized for the customers’ gratification, according to IDC.

Retailers are not only looking at new ways to send out more personalized connections but also seek to use the influx of data to their advantage. This data can transform how retailers view their customers. It gives them new and important insights into buying habits and allows them to create a more unique experience for each and every consumer. In this way, consumers will also expect their conversations with the retailer to be unique to their needs and situations.

4. Enhancing customer engagement and therefore, driving customer loyalty

Customer demand for product availability, convenience, and personalized messages will be the main driver for retailers to adopt IoT in coming year.

There are huge opportunities to be gained when devices can gather data, present and utilize real-time information in meaningful, useful ways. Retailers become more flexible because the information and insights they need are readily available.

Marketing and merchandising habits of retailers will change based on the needs of the buyer. Beacons, when synced to a merchant’s app, can provide visual heat maps that show moving patterns of customers around the stores, it can access search trends and other insights that help merchants fully understand their customer.

5. Interactive in-store experiences

When customers walk into stores, they are undoubtedly overwhelmed by the number of products, long aisles, multiple floors and inefficient support staff. It is something we have all faced. We go in with the intention of buying something but come out completely frustrated and dazed.

Beacons will change the way we walk through stores. They have the ability to help consumers find products quickly, recommend products based on location, and provide personalized preferences as users walk around. They can drive discovery, simplify and ease checkout processes, and reduce waiting lines with digital payments and receipts.


(Read More : cxotoday.com/story/five-ways-beacon-technology-will-transform-retail/ )

Bluetooth Beacon Technology Nepal | Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Combo Chip extends battery life.

Source    : thomasnet
By        : Associated Press
Category  : Beacon Technology Nepal, Bluetooth proximity beacon

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, today announced its latest and lowest power Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo chip for mobile platforms and accessories. The BCM43012 delivers up to 3X longer battery life compared to Broadcom's previous combo chips, enabling OEMs to design a new wave of high-performance connected devices. For more CES news, visit Broadcom's Newsroom.

The BCM43012 allows OEMs to integrate Wi-Fi into platforms that have traditionally been powered by Bluetooth alone due to battery size or constrained power budgets. In some applications, the BCM43012 Wi-Fi consumes 80 percent less power than the most common Bluetooth solutions today. This significant reduction in Wi-Fi power consumption enables OEMs to leverage the increased throughput and range of Wi-Fi to deliver new use cases in a wide variety of devices. Using integrated Wi-Fi, accessories can also connect directly to the cloud without an intermediary smartphone.

"For more than a decade, Broadcom has achieved a market leadership position in connectivity combos by setting the standard for performance, features, and power consumption," said Dino Bekis, Broadcom Vice President of Marketing, Wireless Connectivity Combos. "We have applied this expertise to launch a family of products for the promising mobile accessories markets with solutions that allow our customers to deliver a new generation of connected platforms with breakthrough capabilities."

Key Features and Benefits

--  Highly-integrated 28nm dual-band 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.2 SoC
--  Integrated efficient power amplifiers (PAs), low noise amplifiers (LNAs), and power management unit (PMU) for low rest of bill of materials (RBOM) cost and small system footprint
--  Architectural improvements provide unrivaled low power in sleep and active states for both Wi-Fi and BT
--  Coexistence hardware and algorithms to ensure optimal Wi-Fi and BT performance
--  WLAN features include enhanced proximity and location features enabled by 802.11mc and TurboQAM® data rates up to 96 Mbps
--  Bluetooth features include angle of arrival (AoA) and angle of departure (AoD) technology, wireless charging support for A4WP and AirFuel, and early adopter 2 Mbps Low Energy protocol capability

Availability
The BCM43012 is now sampling with leading OEMs.

For ongoing Broadcom news visit our Newsroom, read our B-Connected Blog, or visit us on Facebook or Twitter. And to stay connected, subscribe to our RSS Feed.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a FORTUNE 500® company, is a global leader and innovator in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom® products seamlessly deliver voice, video, data and multimedia connectivity in the home, office and mobile environments. With one of the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip solutions, Broadcom is changing the world by connecting everything®. For more information, go to www.broadcom.com.

Broadcom®, the pulse logo, Connecting everything®, the Connecting everything logo and TurboQAM® are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU.  Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

(Read More : news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/wi-fi-bluetooth-combo-chip-extends-battery-life-20052694 )

Beacon Technology | Europe Proximity Sensors Market - Growth, Trends And Forecasts

Source    : businesswire
By        :   Laura Wood
Category  : Beacon Technology Nepal, Bluetooth Beacon Technology 

The Europe Proximity sensors market is expected to increase to $1.12 billion by 2018 at a CAGR of 7.15% over the period 2014-2020. The need for enhanced production efficiency in verticals such as process industries, automotive manufacturing and industrial applications is expected to be the key driver for the proximity sensors market in this region.

Additionally, pollution control and worker safety in Europe have led government regulations aimed at improvements. These regulations have a positive impact on the proximity sensors market, increasing demand for automation and strong growth in capital investments are the key drivers which are making the Europe Proximity Sensors market to grow lucratively.

The growth of the proximity sensors market is currently being hindered by limitation in product variation among different manufacturing companies and Limitation in sensing capabilities. Photoelectric proximity sensors technology is the fastest growing market, because of their extensive use in automotive and material handling applications.

Meanwhile, capacitive proximity sensors technology are estimated to have the highest growth rate throughout the forecast period. Magnetic Proximity Sensors are the preferred choice for the detection of non-contact magnets. Further applications are of automatic door units such as garage doors or doors inside buildings, elevator doors and doors inside railway coaches. The building and automotive sector are further industries using high volumes of proximity sensors.

(Source : businesswire.com/news/home/20151218005952/en/Research-Markets-Europe-Proximity-Sensors-Market-- )

Bluetooth Beacon Technology Nepal | Toyota places $1bn bet on robot technology

Source    : Telegraph
By        : Alan Tovey
Category  :  Bluetooth Beacon Technology Nepal

Toyota is placing a $1bn bet on robots and artificial intelligence being major future technologies by setting up a new research and development unit to investigate their uses.
The world’s biggest car company will spend the money over five years to establish the Toyota Research Institute near Stanford University in Silicon Valley, with a second facility at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Japanese industrial giant said that it “believes artificial intelligence has significant potential to support future industrial technologies and the creation of an entirely new industry”.
Investment in the research institute will be spread over five years and Toyota said it hopes the centre will “bridge the gap between fundamental research and product development”.
The institute’s primary mission will be to speed up development of robots and artificial intelligence and to “help resolve society's future challenges by using artificial intelligence and big data…contributing to a sustainable future where everyone can experience a safer, freer, and unconstrained life”.
Toyota has appointed its executive technical adviser Gill Pratt as chief executive of the new enterprise. Work will start on the institute in January 2016 and the company is now looking to hire stars of the sector to work there.
Although the institute’s work is likely to be biased towards the automotive sector, it is thought it will have spin off uses in adjacent fields.

Toyota already has a “Partner Robot” programme (pictured left), which is developing automatons for fields such as entering people living alone, assisting with housework and mobility for the infirm. It also has industrial applications such as manufacturing.
Dr Pratt said: “Our initial goals are to improve safety by continuously decreasing the likelihood that a car will be involved in an accident, make driving accessible to everyone, regardless of ability, and apply Toyota technology used for outdoor mobility to indoor environments, particularly for the support of seniors.
“We also plan to apply our work more broadly, for example to improve production efficiency and accelerate scientific discovery in materials."
Akio Toyoda, Toyota president, added: “As technology continues to progress, so does our ability to improve products. At Toyota, we do not pursue innovation simply because we can; we pursue it because we should. It is our responsibility to make life better for our customers, and society as a whole.”

(Read More: telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/engineering/11979078/Toyota-places-1bn-bet-on-robot-technology.html )

Location-Based Marketing | Beacon Adoption lags ,But Data Soars

Source    : pymnts
By        : PYMNTS
Category  : Beacons and Location-based Marketing

Few retail tech advances have come with the aura that surrounds beacons and location-based marketing. However, just because pundits believe a technology will take off doesn’t mean retailers feel the same way. Are merchants adopting beacons? Are they using them in innovative and unexpected ways? The only way to find out is to dive into the data.

Some Retailers Adopt Beacons, But More Want To

Like many other disruptive tech innovations, beacons may still be too new of a technology for a majority of retailers to welcome with open arms and wallets. That is the gist of an August 2015 study from Retail Systems Research – though only 17 percent of retailers have implemented beacons into their in-store operations, a majority of 55 percent admitted that the technology seems promising and valuable.

That should come as good news for beacon proponents. Before retailers can adopt beacons across the industry, there needs to be a groundswell of popular support for the technology. Moreover, a 38-point difference between retailers that have implemented beacons and those that want to cannot sustain itself for long – either favorable attitudes toward beacons will cool, or the industry is getting closer to an adoption tipping point.

Retailers With Beacons Like What They See
Unlike a new POS system or an engaging product display, the true value of beacons lies not in their installation, but the data they can provide retailers once they’ve been up and running around consumers. In that vein, adoption can be a misleading statistic – after all, if retailers can’t make use of the data beacons produce, what’s the use in chasing higher adoption figures?

Fortunately for retailers, the early results from merchants that have implemented beacons are promising. According to a 100-member survey of retail executives conducted by Retail TouchPoints, those that have made the switch to beacons report high satisfaction marks in several areas:

• 71 percent are “able to track and understand browsing and buying patterns”
• 65 percent are “able to target customers down to the aisle level”
• 59 percent see that “customers are more engaged in the store”
• 53 percent are “able to create more relevant and compelling offers in the store”

These numbers are all well and good for retail analysts, but when it comes to helping retailers drive more sales and earn more revenue, do beacons pull their own weight? The executives polled in the Retail TouchPoints survey think so. Twenty-four percent reported increases in sales due to beacons, and another 24 percent claimed that the tech helped boost offer redemption rates.

The Crucial Factor?
So if an overwhelming majority of retailers are reporting positive to very positive experiences with beacon technology, is the secret to success with beacons simply throwing the switch and diving head first into this emerging field? Like everything in retail, success comes from planning and consideration instead of blind luck, and Sampo Parkkinen, director of product management at retail analytics firm ShopperTrak, told Enterprise App Today that each retailer needs to take a good hard look at his or her business before making the move toward beacons.

“You need to decide if [beacons] will add to the customer experience or produce friction,” Parkkinen said. “If you are thinking about doing something with beacons, think about what you want to achieve — what are the points where the technology adds to or detracts from the customer experience. Make sure that the customer information is shared with different departments in the company.”

Beacons, despite their demonstrated promise, should not be implemented lightly. However, the retailers that move ahead with in-store beacon strategies could have gold mines of proven data waiting for them – if they know exactly how they need to work for it.

(Read More: pymnts.com/in-depth/2015/beacon-adoption-lags-but-data-soars/)