Dive Brief:
- As beacons become more mainstream, manufacturers can uncover unique ways to capitalize on data and access, going beyond typical uses such as pushing discounts and coupons, according to a Business Insider report.
- Manufacturers can also use beacons to facilitate product discovery, planning for future shopping trips, and enhance in-store pickup.
- However, beacons pose their own challenges. These include the requirements for beacon receptivity on consumers' mobile devices or the decreased foot traffic at brick-and-mortar retailers.
Dive Insight:
Product discovery using beacons can take different routes that use varying amounts of data, from personalized product suggestions to more general ones based on the product a consumer is looking at in the store. Manufacturers can use beacons to point to other products within their portfolio, or they can form partnerships with other manufacturers.
Manufacturers can also try using beacons when the shopper visits a store for an in-store pickup. If manufacturers can access the contents of the order, they can deliver their best and most relevant promotional offer or product suggestion based on order data.
Beacons also offer opportunities for facilitating impulse purchases usually made at the checkout counter, such as candy and gum, the latter of which has been a struggling category in recent years. E-commerce and self-checkouts have made it more difficult for manufacturers of impulse-buy products to reach consumers. Beacons could send reminders about impulse-buy products located near the checkout counter to a consumer's mobile device.
But if manufacturers believe in-store promotions are sufficient, they may prefer to focus their marketing spend on e-commerce channels. Total U.S. online CPG sales outpaced the growth of e-commerce overall in 2015 with a 42% jump in online CPG sales year over year compared to 30% overall, according to 1010data. If brick-and-mortar retailers are seeing less foot traffic because of the rise of e-commerce, then manufacturers may see a better return investing in marketing for e-commerce rather than in-store.