Contextualized in-store promotions help increase basket size & boost shopper loyalty

Retailers are struggling to bridge the online/offline gap and provide the same level of convenience in physical shopping experiences that meet customer expectations from e-commerce. The biggest challenge is with promotions. Online promotions are highly optimized and personalized to maximize conversions while in-store promotions underperform across the board. 

In-store promotions are out of context

Simply put, in-store promotions fail to convert. They don’t provide personalization on the individual level for each customer. Physical advertising is generic and can only broadly target shoppers who pass by. 

For example, baby products are advertised in the baby section, but not all customers passing by the baby section are parents. Also, promotions for different cuts of meat are advertised in plain sight to all customers, even those who are vegan or vegetarian.

Additionally, even when the offering is personalized (based on the shopper’s profile), they still fail to convert since it’s not contextualized. Timing is everything when it comes to effective promotions. A relevant coupon that’s offered when shoppers are at home (as planning and proactive browsing is needed) or at the checkout (which is too late for upsells) is ineffective compared to push notifications sent at the right time and place.

As a result, these ads are ineffective and cause promotion overload which overwhelms customers and makes them blind to ads.

The Start of Something New: Mobile App Offerings 

Retailers are beginning to understand the value of mobile-first digital promotions. As it stands, 34% of consumers use their smartphones when shopping in physical stores. This number is only expected to go higher as the years go by. Major retailers, like Carrefour, are taking note of this new trend and adjusting their promotion offerings by taking a mobile-first approach. The result: a recent Kantar survey found that 50% of global shoppers have a high interest in real-time personalized offers provided during in-store shopping.

Offering a promotion while the product is within reach, at the exact moment of purchase, leads to higher engagement and conversions. Research shows that not only is influencing shoppers at this exact moment of purchase critical, but that they also want it:

“More than half (54%) of global consumers shop with retailers that deliver offers in-store via smartphone, because they want offers the moment they are shopping”
– Retail TouchPoints

To truly contextualize offerings, retailers need:

• An accurate location of the shopper to enable precision marketing; the location must be granular to the shelf level, not an approximation.
• The ability to identify when the shopper is:
  • Coming near a complimentary item, or a personalized offering based on their profile.
  • Lingering/dwelling in front of a shelf/in a certain category for a while.
• To function independent of user action and keep running the service in the background regardless of whether the user scans an item or adjusts a checklist, even from inside the customer’s pocket.

Adding proximity promotions to the mix

New technologies, like Oriient’s IndoorGPS, combine the digital and physical shopping experience to provide contextualized promotions in the right place and at the right time. Oriient integrates directly into retailer apps, providing retailers with the real-time location of users at 3 feet /1 meter accuracy, throughout their shopping journeys.

Knowing WHERE the shopper is throughout the store lets retailers know WHAT they are doing and what they are looking for. 

This unlocks the door for proximity marketing and allows retailers to push contextualized, personalized messages based on users’ precise locations.

Watch these examples of Oriient’s proximity promotions:

The value of in-store location for marketers

For retailers, personalized proximity promotions lead to higher conversion rates, resulting in increased basket size and margins. 

Oriient is a turnkey solution provider, offering an end-to-end suite of in-store location services. Our proximity promotion services include smart trigger management, with promotions and notifications prompted by pre-set rules and circumstances. This includes shoppers lingering in an area and receiving promotions to spur product selection, or shoppers receiving notifications specific to designated areas and sections. Oriient’s SDK easily integrates into existing retailers’ mobile apps and is compatible with all smartphones.

By integrating directly with retailer apps–for infinite scale to all stores at no time, and providing shoppers with useful features–shopper loyalty, app engagement, and overall basket size will only grow. 

“The #1 in-store technology is location-based marketing,
which is currently a major focus and a transformational store strategy for many retailers”
– Coresight Research NRF 2020 Insights

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