on the Move


who are the most frequent visitors, gender information and more. This data can provide valuable insight about your customer demographics and their purchase patterns. It could also be used to run special promotions. For example, you can choose to reward visitors who draw new customers to the store. Best of all, by assigning a unique code to each promotion and then tracking it back to the sale, you can measure the effectiveness of Foursquare campaigns.


ShopAlerts and Shopkick ShopAlerts is another app that could fall into the “geolocation” bucket. Developed by Placecast, the technology delivers SMS text messages to consumers’ mobile phones when they enter inside the “geo-fence” or virtual boundary of a business. These messages can include any kind of information from promotions, discount codes, coupons and more. And because announce- ments are delivered via text, a Smartphone is not required. Retailers like American Eagle Outfitters and REI are already


experimenting with ShopAlerts. These companies participated in a pilot program that produced astonishingly high results: 65% of shoppers that received a text message ended up purchasing a product. Consumers also report having a positive experience with the


technology. Sixty percent of participants found the messages to be innovative, 79% said it increased their likelihood to visit a store and 73% would definitely or probably use the service in the future (as reported on Techcrunch). ShopAlerts has the potential to be a sales-driving machine.


Couple this technology with data pulled from the customer relationship management (CRM) application in your point of sale (POS) software and you have a new means to upsell or cross-promote merchandise. For example, say a customer purchases a pair of shoes from an apparel retailer at a mall. Next time the customer visits the mall and travels within the “geo-fence” of that store, ShopAlerts could send an alert asking if they need a new pair of socks, slacks or another complementary product. Alternatively, the message could be used to build brand favoritism, like thanking them for the purchase, asking about their shopping experience or requesting that they share a review of the new footwear. Similar to ShopAlerts, Shopkick is an app that delivers special ads and coupons to shoppers when they are in close


proximity to a retail store. The app is quickly getting the attention of major retailers. For example, Shopkick recently t e amed up wi th Simon Property Group to deliver mobi le promot ions to shoppers in 370 mal ls. Instead of using GPS,Shopkick receives a signal from small speakers positioned at the entrance to stores in malls. The speaker emits a sound that is audible only to cel l phone microphones. It contains a unique code for each store and triggers relevant ads to be displayed on shoppers phones. The app promises to increase foot t r a f f i c t o participating retail stores and potentially drive more sales.


Barcode scanning Barcode technology is experiencing a renaissance. With the development of mobile barcode scanning apps, this 60-year- old technology is making its way back into the limelight. According to ScanLife, mobile barcode scanning is up 700% in 2010. Apps like ShopSavvy, CheckPoints, ShopKick are all riding the waves of this trend, but RedLaser leads the pack with over 5 million downloads. There are a number of ways retailers and customers can use


this barcode-scanning app. For starters, customers can scan product barcodes to read product reviews, learn about complementary offerings (e.g. what pants look best with this shirt), tag products for Christmas wishlists or wedding registries, or find out how and where to purchase an out-of-stock item. Barcode scanning apps are also being used to navigate to


websites, retrieve discounts or coupons and enter contests. For example, Nine West kicked off a campaign that allows customers to scan 2-D bar codes on in-store signage and product packaging. If the customer texts the image to a designated


SpecialtyRetail.com Winter 2011 n Specialty Retail Report 97


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