How to take advantage of Beacon Technology?

Have you ever heard of Beacons?

These little gadgets have been tested for retailers in the United States and the results are impressive.

But will the beacons market survive? Will the retailers be able to implement strategies to increase sales in store?

Beacons are among the most important and recent mobile technologies that offer real advantages to retailers increase and win back sales.

The studies conclude that devices as beacons are the in-store technology which will present the biggest growth since de credit card readers. In the near future, it is expected a fast grow of the implementation rate. In the United States it is expected to reach 4.5 million active beacons by the end of 2018.

Beacons are available at a low-cost and they simply communicate with smartphones’ apps through a low energy Bluetooth signal. These devices will communicate with customers in store with the respective app and Bluetooth signal on.

Several statistics estimate that, globally, there are 570 million smartphones Android and Apple compatible with this technology. 

The BI Intelligence company deepened this study and came up with an extensive report where it identifies the advantages, best strategies to retailers and an outlook for the future.  

So far, it is proved that mobile notifications from apps based on localization and sent through beacons increases the involvement with the brand and subsequently in store sales.

Regarding 2015 and the following years, it is expected a significant increase in sales of the best and most well-known American retailers.

Additionally, the forecasts indicate an increase in the customers’ willingness to accept and use mobile notifications with coupons and discounts to redeem in store. This new technology combined with loyalty programs will be an excellent source for personalized communications (both online and offline) and reward strategies. Retailers will be able to also gather privileged information about customers’ behavior in store, their preferences and concrete needs.  

However, not all is rosy. Retailers to succeed with beacons will have to face the amazing challenge of educate their customers to download their app and accept to receive mobile notifications with campaigns and discounts from their brand.

Big retailers have already implemented this technology and devices in store and are currently learning and developing sales and communication plans to encourage this behavior.

According to these statistics and amazing results for the United States, it will not take long to European retailers start implementing and adopting the best practices of beacons on their own businesses.

We will keep an eye on this and share the most updated information and news.

Loyty Smarketing!

Loyty's interview to Económico TV

Loyty went to Económico TV

Last Thursday we went to Económico TV, a well-known news channel in Portugal, to present and talk about Loyty's business and what we offer to our clients.

We presented our solution as well as the most differentiated features and current clients with respective projects. Additionally, we unraveled our internationalization plan.

We took the opportunity to present our most recent version of Loyty, which was developed to answer the specific needs of the luxury market. This new version is already tested, implemented in some clients and available in the market. Click here to learn more about this solution and to contact us.

Watch the full interview, in portuguese, with our director here.

Stay tuned,

Loyty Smarketing!

3 Design errors that are slowing down your sales

In this article we will alert you for errors that may be committing your company’s website. Is your current website delaying revenue generation?

Too Many Photos, Not Enough Text

When you try to tell a story only based on product pictures, you are only reaching a small percentage of your audience.

Believe it or not, most people trust the text more than product images to make their final decision. Thus, many of your website images are completely ignored.

Consider the details of each product as the most important text that you will write on your page. This is where you can pass all the information about your items, giving buyers the knowledge they need to make informed decisions. This becomes especially important when selling similar products.

The example below shows it:

At first glance, all products look alike and even images’ text doesn’t help that much. A potential client need to know, at first sight, what’s the product, and then realize that descriptions differ from each other.

Too Many Options

It’s probably at this point that Amazon comes to our minds. After all, even this internationally renowned company has EVERYTHING in its page! - From cookware to romance books, from yoga pants to bits.

If every rule needs an exception, this is the perfect example.

However, although being an exception to the rule, the truth is that in most cases, too many options only serve to paralyze potential buyers.

If products featuring on the page even match a broader category, despite their differences, the scenario becomes even worse.

For example, notice the jeans from Hot Topic page (image below).

  

Skinny jeans, shorts, jeans and even skirts arise as result of one search.

Then notice how Torrid has solved this problem.

Filter, design quality, product images at the top of the page, all these elements facilitate the actions of the buyer, reducing search time.

Instead of having to do an infinite scroll page, bumping with dozens of items that do not match with what you are looking for, visitors can directly find the product they love.

Too Many Websites

This is a strange situation that happens when an already established company decides to start a e-commerce division.

Consider Thermos company. A quick search for mugs presents results for vacuum flasks and directs buyers to Thermos.com site, as you can see in the example below.

Thermos site looks and works just like an e-commerce site with pictures, menus, and product description. But here is a small link in the corner which says 'Buy'. And when clicking, it will pop up a completely new site.

ShopTermos.com site is actually the site to order online products. This means that if you find what you seek on the website Thermos.com and try to buy it by clicking 'Buy', you must rescan the desired product in the second website.

Result? Most likely buyers will not stay long on your site.

Loyty Smarketing!