Wi-Fi vs RFID vs GPS vs Beacon: Which Location-Based Service Technology should your Brand go ahead with?

Location is mobile, and as Benedict Evans at Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, puts it, ‘Mobile is eating the world.’ This staggering consumer shift to mobile has made the location the cookie of the real world, thus making it easier and more vital for businesses to take actionable decisions from, the data that is literally walking through its doors. According to a recent report by Markets and Markets, the Location-Based Services (LBS) market is expected to grow to $77.84 Billion by 2021.

It is no secret, that few industries have been disrupted by location-based services, the way the retail sector has. According to a survey by Boston Retail Partners, 53% of retailers plan to have the ability to identify customers via their smartphones, by the year 2020. These retailers would identify customers as soon as they walk into the store. That would be a staggering 883% increase over the 6% of retailers who already identify customers this way.

While all of this clearly drives in the need for marketers to optimize their campaigns to make the most of the power of location data, many marketers still haven’t wrapped their minds around how to go about it. Not surprising, given the wide range of location-based marketing solutions that are available today.

According to Proxbook’s Q1 2017 Report, beacons at 91% are still the most popular proximity marketing technology in the industry, followed by GPS/Geofencing at 58% and Wi-Fi at 35%. At the same time, a Forrester Research report predicted that next-generation Wi-Fi will reach 90% penetration over the next few years. In the midst of all of this, marketers are often confused on which location-based technology they should adopt to be future proof.

Wi-Fi vs RFID vs GPS vs Beacon

So, which among the following widely used proximity marketing technologies – Wi-Fi, RFID, Beacons and GPS, will your business benefit from? This is one of the questions that keeps surfacing in most of our conversations with customers. Unfortunately, each of these technologies has their own limitations and businesses need to use the right combination of two or more based on their budget and what they are trying to achieve. We have already discussed the basic differences between Wi-Fi and iBeacon (Bluetooth Low Energy), and how NFC and GPS fare against iBeacon, and how they work best when used together.

So, which location-based service technology are you looking to leverage? Let us know in the comments below. 

If you are planning to try out beacons, take a look at Beaconstac, that includes everything you need to get started. Using Beaconstac you can set up your own campaign, without a developer’s help!

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Devika Girish

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