Give Your Customers A Better In-Store Experience Through Their Phones

If you’ve had the privilege of drinking Johnnie Walker Blue Label, you know everything about it is premium—from the whisky blend to the silk-lined box and certificate of authenticity to the $200+ price per bottle.

So why did Diageo, owner of the Johnnie Walker brands, create a “smart” bottle label that can be scanned with a smartphone to trigger messages, promotions or even recipes? (Sidebar: IMO, you don’t need recipes. Johnnie Walker Blue neat is sublime.)

The answer is simple: Even the most iconic and storied brands need to change with the times. Diageo sees millions of digital searches about its brands occurring, and “more than 50 percent of those searches happen through mobile with a few feet of the bottle on the shelf.”

Driving Deeper Brand Connections

Diageo isn’t the only one who has noticed: 75 percent of store shoppers use their mobile devices while shopping in-store. Rather than waiting for Apple or Gimbal to come up with interesting applications, brands are taking the lead and creating unique in-store technology activations to drive deeper connections with consumers.

While shoppers typically use their phone for price comparison, brands are tapping into technology and second screens to enhance in-store interactions. Especially at-shelf and point-of-sale, there are untapped opportunities to delight consumers and deliver relevant content through their mobile devices. Rather than just ads or coupons, product details and other proximity-based information provide customers with information needed to aid a purchasing decision.

The Right Time, The Right Place

Most people buy to save time, save money or eliminate pain. What if technology were used to enable faster and more efficient shopping when you need it most? Case in point: the Amazon Dash Button. Doing laundry at home and running low on Tide detergent? Simply press the Dash Button and Amazon automatically reorders and delivers the item to your doorstep.

The same thinking holds true when customers are in-store. Whether mobile technology enables a customer to find the quickest route to the exact item they’re ready to purchase or provides notifications about new products, the in-store shopping experience is enhanced. Using data over audio technology embedded in a store’s app to trigger smart notifications exactly when and where information is needed can deliver a significantly better experience.

The Business Benefits

Using technology in-store has obvious benefits for consumers. Shoppers receive promotions or discounts to use if they’re making a purchase, or get details that provide justification to buy. And like in the case of the Johnnie Walker Blue Label, there’s an amazing opportunity to create a deeper relationship between the customer and the brand that didn’t exist before.

But using technology to enhance the in-store experience isn’t just a “nice to have” for brands and retailers – it’s good for business too. Take Shopkick, one of the first companies to use beacons and ultrasonic technology to trigger smartphone notifications when a customer enters a store. Shopkick now has 15 million users globally, with 25 retail partners and 300 brands. What’s even more impressive are the business results stats. In stores that have beacons, shoppers using Shopkick make 26% more purchases than those without it, and more than half of sales are incremental.

Not only can technology enhance a customer’s in-store experience, but there is a huge opportunity for brands and retail to drive meaningful value while influencing real-time purchasing decisions.

Follow @LISNR for more ways mobile is redefining the in-store shopping experience.

LISNR is a high frequency, inaudible technology; a new communication protocol that sends data over audio. As the leaders of the Internet of Sound, we use inaudible sound waves called SmartTones™, to transmit information.  LISNR essentially transmits customizable packets of data every second that enable proximity data transmission, second-screen functionality, authentication and low-fi device to device connectivity on any LISNR enabled device.  We enable this functionality better and more efficiently than bluetooth (proximity), ACR (2nd Screen), and NFC/RFID (authentication). As an integrated software partner, LISNR can power devices to connect with world around better than ever before.