How Beaconstac can Help you Nail Retail Analytics using Eddystone

The recent growth in IoT (Internet of Things) has resulted in marketers across both large and small business segments, getting more savvy in the way they employ data to drive marketing campaigns. Not only has it helped them understand consumer behavior, but also gain insights into the kind of in-store marketing techniques that work best. With IoT connected devices all set to triple by 2020, the resulting insightful data is poised to grow in prevalence for retailers in 2017.

On a similar note, in a recent report titled ‘Smart Retail: Predictions for 2018,’ by ABI Research, Patrick Connolly, Principal Analyst at the firm mentioned that beacons along with mPOS, staff handhelds, camera analytics and more, will play a key role in the future of smart retail. After all, while most sources provide consumer data that is lacking either on deterministic identity or location, proximity data provided by beacons is the only one that delivers data that is accurate in terms of both location and consumer identity. And thanks to recent rise in adoption of Google’s Eddystone beacons, even businesses that don’t have an app of their own can leverage location-based proximity solutions and gather insightful customer analytics.

Having noticed this growing interest among retailers, we at MobStac recently refined the advanced analytics features offered by our Beaconstac platform to equip retailers with everything they need to gain deep insights into the rising change in consumer behaviour. In this blog we will discuss in detail about how retailers can leverage the Beaconstac platform to employ a data-driven approach to measure the behaviour of their shoppers.

But before we dig deep into that, it’s important for you to know that the Beaconstac platform is compatible with both iBeacon and Eddystone beacon protocols. Based on the protocol that the beacons leveraged in a proximity campaign are compatible with, the metrics and analytics offered by the platform also differ. In this blog we will take you through the various advanced analytics offered by Beaconstac’s Eddystone platform, in detail.

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Retail analytics using Eddystone

Let’s consider you are running an Eddystone campaign at ‘Fashion Store’, a retail outlet at New York. As a part of this campaign, 7 Eddystone beacons have been installed at various sections in the store, primarily:

(a) Women’s Footwear Section (WF)

(b) Men’s Clothing (MC)

(d) Women’s Clothing (WC)

(e) Billing Section (Bil)

(f) Beauty Studio (BS)

(g) Men’s Footwear Section (MF)

These beacons are together leveraged to run 4 different kind of campaigns, primarily centered around attracting new customers in-store, sending targeted offers, sending proximity messages near mannequins and collecting valuable feedback. For example, the beacon at the:

(a) Women’s Footwear Section is being used to push a notification that says – ‘10% OFF on Clarks Heels’ – to notify consumers about a sale that is currently running in the section

(b) Men’s Clothing is being leveraged to push a notification that says – ‘Check out the New Arrivals from ONLY’ – to entice customers to check out the new arrivals of the season

(c) Entrance is being used to push a notification that says – ‘Discover latest fashion trends inside’ – to attract new customers or customers who don’t have the store’s native app to visit the store

(d) Women’s Clothing is being used to push a notification that says – ‘Avail 15% off on Summer Dresses today’ – to push a customer closer to a sale when he/she is checking out the clothes/shoes/accessories on a mannequin

(e) Billing Section is being used to push a customer satisfaction survey form to collect direct feedback from customers

(f) Beauty Studio is being used to push a notification that says – ‘Try a Mini Makeover for free today’ – to spread awareness about an event running in-store

(g) Men’s Footwear Section is being used to push a notification that says – ‘Buy any shoe and avail 25% on the 2nd pair’ – to notify consumers about a sale that is currently running in the section

Now let’s take a look at the various analytics provided by Beaconstac platform. It helps you:

(1) Analyze both beacon and campaign performance

(Note: Please click on the image to zoom in on the details)

Here the graph on the left depicts the number of notifications sent by the beacons at the retail outlet. The higher the number of notifications sent, the higher the number of visitors seen by that particular section of the store.

For example, as per this graph, more people visited the women’s clothing section, while lesser people visited the women’s footwear section. You could use this information to drive sales by placing matching footwear next to clothing brands that sell the most. This will help you revive the low-performing sections within the store. You could even use this data to cross-sell other relevant products.

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Also, considering that the store entrance ranks as the 2nd best area in terms of beacon performance (i.e number of notifications sent), you could leverage beacons deployed at this section to inform store visitors about the new arrivals and the products that are on sale in the low-performing store sections.

Moving on, the graph on the right, shows the number of times various cards were viewed by store visitors. The higher the number of times a card was viewed, the more that visitors could relate to it and higher the chances of conversion.

For example, as per this graph, the card that sent specific offers to customers about clothes/shoes/accessories on a mannequin performed best. You could run a similar campaign in the low-performing store sections to drive sales. Also, it turns out that customer survey form in the 3rd most popularly viewed card. You could also use this to your advantage to gain insights on customer expectations.

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(2) Track how notifications convert into views at various places

(Note: Please click on the image to zoom in on the details)

This graph helps you track the best performing sections (i.e sections that see maximum conversions) at your retail store. The blue bar on the left depicts the number of notifications that were sent, while the grey bar on the right depicts the number of card views made by store visitors.

To give you a better idea on how you can put this graph to use, let’s dig a little deeper. As shown here, the billing section ranks second among the others, in terms of campaign performance. Therefore, you could leverage the beacon at this section to educate users about the perks of signing up for a loyalty program at the store. You could use the beacon to inform visitors about upcoming events similar to ‘Free Makeover Sessions’ that is currently being run at the Beauty Studio section. You could also leverage the beacons at the Women’s Clothing section to create a buzz around similar events, given that it is the best performing section at the store.

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(3) Track notifications received by visitors at various places

(Note: Please click on the image to zoom in on the details)

This graph helps you track if a particular beacon campaign performed well. For example, we can see a peak in number of notifications sent at the Women’s Clothing section on 5th Dec, the day when the mannequins in-store were dressed to match up to Christmas mood around the corner.

This goes on to show that, dressing up the mannequins as per the latest seasonal trends will help you drive footfall. This ties well with the data shown in one of the earlier graphs, where we learned that the notifications that sent specific offers to customers about clothes/shoes/accessories on a mannequin performed best.

Also, the second highest peak in number of notifications sent was seen at the Beauty Studio on 7th Dec, the day you ran a ‘Free Makeover Session’. This goes on to show that such workshops also play a critical role in driving footfall.

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(4) View change in traffic split between cards over time

(Note: Please click on the image to zoom in on the details)

This graph helps you gain insights on the ratio of cards that visitors viewed on a given day. You can use this data to gain a solid understanding about the the type of cards that visitors could relate to and the ones that have a higher the chance of conversion.

For example, we can see that the notifications that were sent to inform customers about the clothes/shoes/accessories on a mannequin and the one that was sent to make them checkout the free makeover event, saw max traffic among other cards. This shows that customers generally prefer notifications that are contextually relevant and educational rather than promotional.

(5) View landing page distribution between cards, forms and links

(Note: Please click on the image to zoom in on the details)

This graph gives you a clear understanding of the percentage ratio between the various kinds of notifications (cards, customer satisfaction forms, lead generation forms, links or custom URL) that were sent. For example, as per this graph, 43.03% of notifications sent were customer satisfaction forms while the remaining 56.97% of notifications were cards.

(6) Integrate Google analytics

(Note: Please click on the image to zoom in on the details)

Apart from all the above-mentioned graphs, Beaconstac platform also allows you to embed your Google Analytics ID inside the cards in a single click. This way, you will be able to make use of all this proximity data along with other data on the Google Analytics platform directly.

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On the other hand, if you already have an app in place and are looking to leverage beacons to gain insights on customers, here is a blog that talks in detail about how Beaconstac platform empowers you to do the same. At the same time, if you are looking to leverage beacons and use the Eddystone protocol, take a look at Beaconstac, that includes everything you need to kickstart your campaign in under 15 minutes. Using Beaconstac you can set up your own campaign, without a developer’s help!