If you've read Puneet Mehta's article in AdAge today Beacons have already been proclaimed a failure. To those of youth are nay sayers this is validation. Meanwhile to marketers who have actually tested beacons and have massive roll out plans in the works it is further proof of misguided motivations to create controversy. THIS is what is hurting marketing. Much like the marketing being done around nutrition and weight management it is hard to separate fact from fiction.
With that, I set out to put numbers to beacons. What is fact as we know it right now. Beacons are still in the early stages, yet the overall feeling is if you don't have a plan, or are at least working on one, you have already fallen behind the competition. While some wait to see how it all shakes out, others are jumping in and testing the waters to get customers use to opting in to apps. First by partnering with other app and solution providers. Once the results are in most are finding they want to control the data they get back and the land grab begins.
Like any technology in the early stages there will be mishaps (NYC rollout is one if you can call it something other than Buzzfeed paranoia) and trials that don't work as expected. But so far overwhelmingly the numbers and returns have been good enough to convince early adopters to push forward on a massive scale. Not just on the mobile pay solution front using beacons and NFC but with messaging and coupons as well.
Closed shop policies are still being debated as to how closed is reasonable and the land grab will continue as fights for common areas of malls and other public areas will need to be sorted out. But the predictions of beacon failure as a strategy is premature if not off the mark. Standards will be created and guidelines will be put in place as has happened with other technologies and strategies.
If you separate fact from fiction and prognostication here is what you find -
  • Consider the companies already working with beacons in some capacity - McDonalds, Major League Baseball, Virgin Atlantic, SXSW, Apple (duh), Hillshire Brands, Macy's, Best Buy, Sports Authority, Target, JCPenny, Hudson Bay, Lord & Taylor, Marriott, CVS, Starwood Hotels, American Eagle Aerie, American Airlines, Nivea, Walgreens, Walmart, Woolworths, The SF 49ers, and more
  • Still Less than 1% of the 3.5 million retail stors in the US have rolled out beacons.
  • In the Hillshire Brands test shoppers were 20 times more likely to buy
  • "American Eagle found that customers that received the offer were more than twice as likely to try on clothing as those who didn’t." -Joe Megibow, chief digital officer at American Eagle Outfitters
  • Verve's CRO James Smith -“Overall, we see a 25% to 75% lift in foot traffic over any given campaign, responding to the advertising,”
  • Over 2 Billion mobile devices shipped vs. 300 million PC's (desktop and laptop)
  • 92 million adults use smartphones while shopping, many already have apps that allow beacon messages and have opted in.
While the rest of the numbers are vague, most who have tested beacons have set full roll out dates for all of their locations and are reporting seeing double digit percentage lifts in sales.