Showroom: We Help Sell More Here


Internet of Things - BLE Technology

Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE has been making headlines for its ability to provide micro-targeting smartphone experiences for the mobile shopper. More commonly known simply as “beacons”, these devices can be placed throughout a retail environment and trigger actions on a nearby smartphone, providing information, next steps, offers, etc. Beacons fall under the much discussed Internet of Things (IoT), or a network of physical objects embedded with electronics, software sensors, and network connectivity, enabling these objects to collect and exchange data in order to do some really cool things.

Beacon: Major Retail Adoption

Big retailers are taking action on this trend. Macys, Target, Starwood Hotels, Major League Baseball have all made major investments in beacons and have implemented them in retail environments across the country to enhance the experience for mobile shoppers and increase revenue. Apple’s partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB) is an example of creating a unique app experience for customers. To make the games much more interactive to fans using iBeacons. The aim was to create micro-locations both inside and outside the stadiums where fans can get specialized app experiences based on the stadium they visited. The app recognizes a fan is entering a stadium for example, and it is able to display their ticket on their device, a map to where they are sitting, as well as send out information on the teams playing and the stadium. In addition to specialized ticket information, the beacons provide offers to fans upon entering the in-stadium merchandise store. You can find his full article here. Beacon adoption is happening across industries. According to ABI Research, about 1 million beacons are in the retail environments today, over 400 million are estimated to be implemented over the next 4 years and have a major effect on sales. Recent research conducted by Business Insider stated that beacons are expected to influence $4 billion worth of US retail sales this year at top retailers alone, and this number is projected to climb to a staggering $44.4 billion by 2016.

Beacons in Automotive

As Dan Kosir said, beacons can be used in a myriad of ways such as couponing, proximity marketing, contextual targeting, loyalty & rewards, bridging online and offline experiences, reporting and visitor attribution, and recency and  frequency tracking. Retailers across industries are testing beacon technology and use cases and automotive dealerships are no different. With beacons, upon entering a dealership, a smartphone shopper is offered an opportunity to use their smartphone as a virtual shopping assistant with beacons. The shopper receives a unique message tied to an app experience regarding the specific vehicle they’re near. The beacon recognizes the customer has been in close proximity for a specified amount of time and automatically provides the customer with an opportunity to access more information. As the shopper moves to a new vehicle the app changes, showing manufacturer incentives, current inventory availability, customizability options, etc. Most of the information can be found online or in-store, but this messaging is active rather than passive and skips all the steps necessary to reach the information for the customer if they were to look for the information themselves. Beacons offer the ability to provide relevant next steps and information for shoppers. Customers and dealerships have reported benefiting from technology like this; they are using beacons as early stage shopping assistants to customers, a cross-shopping deterrent in-store, and to engage customers that are unwilling to talk to salespeople initially.

Beacons - Early Stage Shopping Assistant

Greg Sterling, a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land who is also the VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association stated this year, “Apps have the potential to become the center of a more powerful customer loyalty experience and to drive both online and in-store sales. Retailers need to use both the mobile Web and apps, recognizing that apps are going to be used by their most loyal shoppers. And there’s an opportunity to generate more loyalty and engagement with a superior app shopping experience.” According to a study conducted this year by Apptentive, US consumers are using retail apps as shopping aids, often supporting and driving in-store purchases. They found that 88 percent of respondents used retailer apps; 61 percent said they used them at least monthly. 26% of respondents used retailer apps seven or more times per month.

Apps and Automotive Retail

Automotive dealers are beginning to adopt beacon technology in-store, turning customer’s’ smartphones into virtual shopping assistants. Before customers are ready to talk to a salespeople one on one, many walk the showroom, smartphone in hand, doing their own initial inspections; in fact, according to the TNS Auto Shopper study, half of all car shoppers with mobile devices use their smartphones while at the dealership. Beacons placed in vehicles around the dealership can start the initial engagement between customer and dealership using the customer’s’ smartphone. The customer can receive a message to their device tied to an app experience with information they may be looking for. This can lead to more questions, questions that can be answered by a salesperson. In this use case for beacons, the customer has the option to utilize this access to vehicle-specific information as they walk the showroom.

Beacons - Cross Shopping Deterrent

Cross-shopping is defined as using a smartphone to check competitive pricing and offers while on a dealership floor. This can result in lost business for the dealership. Some Dealers are using beacons technology to reduce cross-shopping in the showroom. Beacons can reach customers with direct messages leading to pertinent information inside an app about vehicles they’re near physically. Some dealers believe that this path to information acts as a natural cross-shopping deterrent. Should the customer engage with the message, it takes them off the open web into an app experience. Because the experience is entirely owned by the dealership and leads away from search results on the open web, they believe less cross-shopping will occur.  As Dionne Colvin-Lovely, Director of Emerging & Traditional Media at Toyota, said, “Car shoppers leverage mobile at the beginning and middle of their purchase process and continue to research and shop online while at the dealership. To ensure your brand stays top of mind during these keys moments, providing constant access to information means that immediacy and relevance are now table stakes for brands.” The TNS Auto Shopper study stated that half of all car shoppers with mobile devices use their smartphones while at the dealership and Google stated that 72% of searching at a dealership involves cross-shopping. When you pair those statistics with the fact that 62% of customers using smartphones on the lot will visit another dealership within a day, it’s clear why cross-shopping is something dealers are putting thought into.

Beacons - Engaging Customers That Don’t Trust Salespeople

Many customers don’t trust salespeople. Some believe it is because shoppers know too much. Pricing information is readily available online and there are many horror stories about bad experiences negotiating and dealing with salespeople; some feel this leads to a mistrust of car salespeople. According to the 2015 Automotive Buyer Influence study, negotiation is considered the top frustration for car buyers, which affect their attitudes towards salespeople. For shoppers that mistrust salespeople, beacons provide a first step engagement.  In this way shoppers are able to interact with vehicles and build trust with the dealership, especially if they are unwilling to talk to a salesperson initially.