苹果iBeacon或将成移动消费转折点

    这些消息严格按照地理位置发送，只有几百名持票的观众收到了这些信息，而且仅当他们身在球场里时才会收到这些信息。根据积极的初始反馈，迈阿密海豚队的营销部门正在计划与一些早期用户会面，以便明确自己的未来战略。霍华特说：“我们很清楚，这是一个我们想要整合进来的东西。”

    根据ABI Research公司的统计，除了iBeacon之外，还有十多个不同的技术也在争夺市场份额。ABI分析师帕特里克•康诺利在一份最新的报告中写道：“我们认为Wi-Fi和iBeacons这类基于基础架构的技术会呈现巨大的增长，另外低功耗蓝牙技术的应用预计到2015年将突破2万，基中大部分集中在零售业。到2018年，超过8亿部智能手机将会积极使用室内地理位置应用，届时，它会像今天的GPS一样成为标准配置。”

    对于零售商来说，这种新型的地理位置探测应用不仅能带来额外的收入，同时也可以提供更加详细的关于个体购物者以及他们的购物习惯和产品偏好的信息。

    梅西百货采用的技术来自一家名叫Shopkick的新锐公司。根据Shopkick公司自己的估算，2013年它为合作伙伴贡献的销售额超过了5亿美元，是2012年的两倍。目前，它的用户群体已经超过650万人，有70%的用户是女性，其中最典型的是那些30多岁事业小有成就的年轻母亲。Shopkick的共同创始人、CEO西里亚科•洛丁指出：“只要能让他们进门，就有很大的机会卖出东西。”

    现代社会中，人们每天都要接受大量信息的轰炸，不堪其扰，那么人们凭什么要选择这样一个基于地理位置的营销应用呢？——更惶论是在这个人人谈隐私色变的时代。显然，它离不开让消费者成为忠诚顾客的老办法，那就是物质激励。

    Shopkick会奖励用户一种叫做“kick”的电子货币。它既可以兑换成礼品卡，也可以换成商品等其他物品。用户在货架间流连时会收到来自150多个合作品牌的产品提醒，比如宝洁（Procter & Gamble）、联合利华（Unilever）、蒙大利兹（Mondelez）、欧莱雅（L'Oreal）、露华浓（Revlon）、百事（Pepsi）、通用磨坊（General Mills）、惠普（Hewlett-Packard）等。

    只有当某个人接近某个特定商品，或是他看起来想要进入一个特定的屋子时，他才会收到这种信息。市场人员最不希望的就是这种应用成为人们讨厌的东西。洛丁说：“知道某个人正在接近和知道某个人已经在这里了，两者之间有很大的区别。”

    除了梅西百货之外，美国鹰牌服饰也在波士顿、芝加哥、达拉斯、休斯敦、洛杉矶、迈阿密、纽约和旧金山等地的100多家门店里安装了Shopkick系统。百思买（Best Buy）、Crate and Barrel、欧迪办公（Office Depot）、J.C. Penney、老海军（Old Navy）、塔吉特百货（Target）和Sports Authority等品牌也要么已经安装了这些系统，要么正打算在今年安装这些系统。美国另一大零售商Kmart也正在测试由Pikato公司提供的一套类似的系统，用它来向移动设备提供优惠券和其他激励。另外还有200多家Safeway和Giant Eagle的门店正在与inMarket公司一道投资这项技术。

    这些信号发射器的安装相对来说很容易。比如迈阿密海豚队只需要不到一天的时间，就可以在阳光生活体育馆的墙上安装５０个发射器。另外它们的成本也很低廉，高通这个产品的价格只有5到10美元，但具体取决于信号传播的距离和电池寿命（一般在1到3年之间）；其他公司的产品价格也无非就在40美元左右。

    尽管如此，许多公司在采用这项技术时还是非常慎重，不仅仅是由于这项技术所需要的移动设计工作和后台技术的集成非常复杂，另一方面也是由于对消费者隐私的高度敏感。比如迈阿密海豚队目前正在与一家移动开发商进行会商，以确定合适的营销目标，同时划定一条收集信息的红线。霍华德说：“最难的部分是理解具体的执行。这项技术必须要有相关性。”（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    These messages were geofenced: Only a few hundred season ticketholders chosen for the test received them and, even then, only if they were actually in the stadium. Based on positive initial feedback, the Dolphins marketing organization is planning to meet with some of the early users to define its future strategy, Howard says. "We know that this is something we want to integrate into our experience," she says.

    Alongside iBeacon are more than 10 different technologies competing for mindshare, estimates ABI Research. "We see huge growth for infrastructure-based technologies like Wi-Fi and iBeacons, with [Bluetooth Low Energy] deployments forecast to break 20,000 by 2015, largely focused on retail," writes ABI analyst Patrick Connolly in a new report. "With over 800 million smartphones actively using indoor location for applications by 2018, it will be as standard as GPS is today."

    For retailers, this new breed of location-sensing applications can be both a source of additional revenue and a means of collecting far more specific data about individual shoppers, their habits and their product preferences.

    One high-profile startup in the sector and the company behind the Macy's deployment,Shopkick, estimates its technology drove $500 million in sales to partners during 2013. That's twice the amount it influenced during 2012. Within its 6.5 million-user-plus demographic, 70% of shopkick members are women; the typical user is a thirtysomething mother. "If you get them through the door, you stand a very good chance of making a sale," says Cyriac Roeding, co-founder and chief executive of the Redwood City, Calif.-based company.

    Given all the information that bombards the average person daily, why would someone opt in for location-based marketing messages -- especially amid this age of heightened privacy concerns? Apparently, the same motivation that drives people to join customer loyalty programs: incentives.

    Shopkick rewards shoppers with a type of digital currency, called "kicks," that can be redeemed toward gift cards, products, or other items. As a Shopkick member browses, he or she receives alerts about products from more than 150 brand partners: the likes of Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Mondelez, L'Oreal, Revlon, Pepsi, General Mills, and Hewlett-Packard.

    Someone is only bothered when he or she is near a specific item or if it looks like they might be enticed to visit a certain department. The last thing marketers want is for these apps to become a nuisance. "There is a big difference in knowing that someone is close and knowing someone is here," Roeding says.

    Aside from Macy's, the Shopkick system is being installed at more than 100 American Eagle Outfitter locations in major cities including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco. Other stores that have deployed systems or plan to do so this year include Best Buy, Crate and Barrel, J.C. Penney, Office Depot, Old Navy, Target, and the Sports Authority. A similar system offered Pikato is being tested by Kmart to deliver coupons and other incentives to mobile devices. And more than 200 Safeway and Giant Eagle grocery stores are investing in the technology, in collaboration with inMarket.

    Beacons are relatively simple to install. For example, it took the Dolphins less than a day to scatter and stick 50 of them onto walls at Sun Life Stadium. They are also relatively cost-effective: Qualcomm's models range from $5 to $10, depending on transmission intervals and battery life (anywhere from one to three years); others are priced around $40.

    Still, most organizations are proceeding with caution not just because of the mobile design work and back-end technology integration required but because of sensitivity over consumer privacy. The Dolphins, for example, are consulting with a mobile developer to develop appropriate marketing goals and to decide where to draw the line on collecting information. "The hard part is understanding how to execute," Howard says. "The technology has to be relevant."