In the
first part of this article, we saw the possible uses of Beacon in typical
retail stores. With the ubiquitous nature of the technology (it is present in
most of the iPhones [http://bit.ly/1frrk0o] & applications are being
developed for android platform also [http://bit.ly/1s1sExs]), beacons won’t be found only in
retail outlets. It is imperative that such an impressive & energy efficient
technology would be used in many other sectors. To name a few of them –
security applications, events, conferences, home automation etc.
In the security
landscape, beacons could be found in applications similar to RFID tags, with
the ability to do many more things. You could create a geofence, tag valuable items in an area
& keep on continuously polling them with the help of beacons (this is very
similar to other proximity sensors, except beacons have a much larger range
& bidirectional communicational ability). Whenever that item is taken outside
the geofence, we can set a certain steps of actions to be taken. The other (inverse)
variant of this application is the ability to set restricted areas. You can set
triggers/alarms when an item enters a pre-set restricted area. One other
application of geofencing might be to disseminate information only to devices/people
located in a particular area.
This
ability to send the information selectively based on micro-locations of
recipients opens up yet another domain – use of beacons at exhibitions, events,
conferences etc. Now when you stand in front of a particular stall, you’ll
receive information pertaining to the products & services of only that
exhibition stall. Similarly, whenever a notification is to be sent to a group
of people present in a particular area of an event (Ex. The attendees in a
particular conference room could be sent notifications relevant to the ongoing
session in that particular zone/area), beacons could be the way to go. Also, beacons provide the unique ability to have
peer-to-peer communications of like-minded people. For example, at a tech conference,
you can identify the people having similar prime interest as you (e.g. wireless
technologies) & meet them to have a personal dialog with them. It would be of
a great help in cutting through the crowd at such events/conferences &
converse with people with whom you actually want to exchange ideas. The ability
of beacons to provide a context would give unparalleled levels of engagement
& greatly efficient user experiences.
Deployment
of beacons may look tedious to marketers, but they stand to gain great
advantages from them. For retailers at least, there will not be any major
changes in their business processes. The technology could very well complement
their existing marketing communication framework. Even so, they can gain
following benefits from beacon deployment: 1. Granular Trends & Preferences:
With beacons, buying/behavioral trends & preferences would be available in
such a great variety & granularity that it would give an almost complete
picture of the customer’s physical behavior within the retailer’s premises. For
example, retailer can get the data about the products searched, time spent in
various sections of the outlet, number & frequency of visits to the outlet
etc. With proper analysis of this data, retailers
would be able to draw trends & judge preferences like they’ve never done
before. 2. With such near complete profiles of their customers, it would be
possible for retailers to take informed decisions on various value added
services. Retailers would be able to fine tune their offerings to the actual
behavior of customers, not the needs perceived through the surveys. 3. Campaigning
would also become easy for retailers as they will be able to send instantaneous
offers to the shoppers present in the outlets. The ROI on beacon investment is
looking quite optimistic.
However,
for all above possibilities to become a feasible solution, many pieces of the beacon
jigsaw have to fall into place. Platforms for beacons are yet to flourish &
there is great need for their growth. These platforms are going to act as
drivers for the adoption of this technology. Many retailers would not want to
develop their own platforms as it involves a huge amount of work & a great
deal of risk. Furthermore, as with any technology, a fair amount of resistance
is to be expected from the customers. Beacon applications may seem quite intrusive
on the surface & customers may have privacy concerns. Also, something needs
to done about the auto-activation of beacon feature in the mobile devices.
Customers cannot be expected to turn on beacon every time they are in the
vicinity. Inversely, asking the user to keep their beacon signal always on may make
the users prone to security issues.
All
things considered, beacon technology is definitely an awesome development in
the customer engagement & location-based targeting domain. Sure it’s still
in the nascent stage, but it is definitely heading towards becoming a great
addition to one’s communication repertoire. Beacon industry is still taking
shape, and Apple Inc. seems to have taken a lead, but beacon (Bluetooth 4.0) inclusion
in android is rapidly gaining ground & that is bound to make the market
fiercely competitive. However, the question, ‘Will Beacons become the guiding
lights of customer engagement?’ remains unanswered for now.
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