How Beacon Technology is Enhancing E-commerce App Development

Imagine your customer walks into your store and receives instant notifications on your phone about exclusive deals and discounts available. The same product that they were searching for online is now 20% off, enticing them to purchase and save their pockets. Cherry on the top, they don’t need to navigate the entire store to find the specific product with indoor mapping. All this seems quite interesting, right? As a retailer, you’re probably eager to discover how it works. In short: Beacon technology innovation makes it possible. Beacon technology is taking the online-to-in-store shopping experience to the next level. Let’s discover more about this technology and how leveraging it in e-commerce app development can help better meet customer needs and increase business revenue.

What is Beacon Technology

Beacons are small wireless devices that act as sensors, placed within the store to transmit proximity-based signals to nearby smartphones. It detects users’ presence within a specific location to deliver targeted offers and promotions. With the store’s mobile app installed on their smartphone and Bluetooth enabled, users start receiving push notifications via beacon signals. Beacon enables precise location-based interactions that drive customer engagement and satisfaction. Moreover, it’s capable of providing highly tailored and personalized information based on the user’s physical location to enhance their shopping experiences.

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6 Strategies to Implement Beacon Technology in E-commerce App Development

Follow these 6 key strategies to implement beacon functionality within your ecommerce app development:

1. Personalized Product Recommendations

In an e-commerce app, the best way to offer personalized recommendations and offerings is to utilize beacon technology and artificial intelligence. AI can learn users’ preferences, shopping habits, and past interactions to suggest targeted offers and products that are most relevant to their shopping interests. For instance, if the user likes to receive recommendations regarding makeup products, the app displays products from that category. As the user walks into the store, they receive a push notification regarding sales or exciting offers on makeup products. This amalgamation of AI and beacon technology in e-commerce apps unlock countless opportunities for increased sales and growth.

2. In-Store Navigation and Tracking

Navigating in-store can leave customers overwhelmed and often unsure of where to find the specific product. This frustration can lead to abandoned purchases and a negative shopping experience. However, beacon technology integrated with interactive maps offers real-time guidance to customers. Additionally, the app highlights products on the map and allows users to easily locate items on their shopping list and see where the items are located in the store. The app also displays users’ proximity to the products in real-time, and as soon as they reach their desired location within the store, they start to receive push notifications. Target is the best example that utilizes a beacon to help customers locate their desired products in-store effortlessly with indoor mapping.

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3. Barcode Scanning

One of the trends in Beacon is online barcode scanning which enables seamless integration of physical and digital shopping experiences. When users scan a product barcode in-store using their smartphones, nearby beacons detect the action to provide additional information. Users receive personalized recommendations and exclusive offers relevant to the scanned item. Moreover, it allows customers to access a wealth of information and benefits with few taps on their smartphones. Ultimately, retailers can create engaging, immersive shopping journeys that drive customer satisfaction, and loyalty, both online and in-store with beacon technology.

4. Contactless Payments

Beacon technology simplifies the checkout process and offers speed, convenience, and improved payment security. This works when customers head towards the payment terminal equipped with beacon technology, their smartphones detect the beacon signal. This initiates the payment process automatically and eliminates the need for physical contact or swiping cards. Moreover, it also reduces transaction times and the long waiting checkout lanes for customers. With beacon-enabled contactless payments, customers enjoy a frictionless checkout experience while retailers benefit from increased efficiency and customer satisfaction. Furthermore, with beacon technology, you can enhance security measures, such as tokenization and encryption.

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5. Customer Loyalty Programs

Customers get attracted to incentives and rewards they receive while shopping both in-store and online. Beacon technology empowers retailers to enhance customer loyalty programs by analyzing customers’ in-store behavior. When customers enter the store, beacons detect their presence and automatically enroll them in the loyalty program. As they shop, beacons track their interactions and purchases. After that, users receive special discounts coupons, or points for completing specific actions or achieving a milestone. Additionally, beacons can send targeted notifications about exclusive offers or bonus rewards that increase user retention rates. Urban Outfitters, a leading retail brand enables its customers to unlock special discounts by leveraging social media check-in and taking selfies.

6. Data Analytics

Customer data plays a crucial role in offering better deals and discounts. With data analytics and beacon technology, retailers can gain valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences. Beacons collect data on customer movements, dwell times, and interactions within physical spaces. This data is then analyzed to understand patterns, trends, and correlations to make strategic decisions and deliver personalized push notifications. In addition, retailers can optimize store layouts and enhance product placements using beacon technology. Macy’s is a fashion and accessories brand that tracks its customer’s data and in-store movement using beacon technology. Moreover, beacon data analytics also enhances upselling and cross-selling opportunities by identifying customer buying behavior and offering complimentary or upgraded products.

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Conclusion

Beacon is the next-generation e-commerce shopping experience as it enables retailers to unlock tempting business opportunities by attracting visitors with special deals, offers, and discounts via beacon push notifications. They can develop a futuristic e-commerce app integrated with a beacon that detects user proximity to the store and delivers personalized offerings and deals. They can harness data analytics, AI, machine learning, barcode scanning, digital payments, and more along with the integration of beacon technology within their e-commerce app. In this way, retailers can increase their conversion rate, improve user engagement, and build long-lasting relationships with customers.