Tag: Hyperlocal

How Brands Can Tap Into Smartphone Sensors For Better Targeting

Posted on by Lab Team

Nowadays, our smartphones and wearable devices come with a ton of smart sensors that not only tracks biometric data for fitness purposes, but also environmental data that can help contextualize our surroundings. The new Google X wristband, for example, can gather environmental information like light exposure and noise levels, in addition to the myriad of biometrics it monitors. Similarly, popular weather app Dark Sky has recently started tapping into the barometer embedded in iPhones to crowdsource pressure data for better local weather forecasting.

For brands, however, the next step is transforming these sensors from passive data receivers into active data gatherers and utilizing them to generate accurate, hyperlocal data to improve context-aware targeting. Sense360, for example, is a California-based startup that specializing in the gathering and interpretation of environmental data from the various mobile sensors. Just earlier this week, they launched a new software development kit (SDK) that will allow app developers to easily access the sensors and help brands deliver a better consumer experience.

All in all, sensors hold vast potential for real-time contextual triggering, enabling brands to reach their audience at the right time and place.  We expect more brands to start tapping into the data they generate, and make good use of the new targeting capability they present.

McDonald’s Debuts The First Branded Geofilter On Snapchat

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: TechCrunch

We reported last summer when popular messaging app Snapchat added a new location-sensitive Geofilter feature and pointed out its great potential for brand integration. Now, almost an year since the debut of the feature, Snapchat is finally turning it into an ad unit, with McDonald’s on board as the first brand to offer special Geofilter for Snapchatters in at any of the over 14,000 McDonald’s stores across the States. As Snapchat continues to expand its platform and diversify its ad offerings, we expect to see more integration like this to pop up for brands to explore.

 

Beacons Are Coming To Ford Showrooms

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: WardsAuto

Ford is set to begin a pilot test program for beacons in a handful of showrooms to aid a more independent sales process. Because car shoppers begin their research online, the purchase cycle has become compressed, enabling people to get the information they need faster, leading to a quicker purchase. Dealers will attach the beacons to models they want to feature in their showrooms. As a shopper walks around the vehicle, the devices will broadcast key information to the customer’s smartphone that might help close a sale.

Why Facebook Is Giving Free Beacons to Retailers

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: Re/code

Facebook announced on Monday that it was expanding its new hyperlocal feature Place Tips to include all businesses in the United States, and as part of the expansion, Facebook will be handing out free beacons to retailers and businesses. It’s noteworthy that Facebook is producing and distributing these beacons for free, which will surely help the adoption of in-store beacons. Although retailers can’t advertise through Place Tips at them moment, it seems safe to assume that the company will add monetization to the Place Tips feature in near future, as it has done with most of its platforms.

Philips Develops VLC Lights For Retail Indoor Navigation

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: Engadget

Philips has developed a new indoor navigation system for retailers that uses special lights equipped with visible light communication (VLC) technology, which enables it to beam out a code imperceptible to the human eye. The corresponding smartphone app utilizes the forward-facing camera to read the VLC, thereby identifying the user’s locations and redirecting the user to where they need to go.

Among early partners is French supermarket chain Carrefour, which is already trialing the system at its flagship store in Lille. In addition to providing hyperlocal indoor navigation, the company is also reporting that the lights have helped reduce its energy bills by half.

It’s always important for retailers to explore new ways to improve the in-store experience, especially at a time when brick-and-mortar retailers are increasingly feeling the pressure from the digital competitors, such as Amazon and FreshDirect. Whether or not this new VLC lighting system will perform better than Bluetooth beacon systems, however, remains to be determined.

Apple Acquires Coherent Navigation For Better Location Service

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original article on: The Verge

Coherent Navigation, a San Francisco-based company specializing in high-accuracy GPS and navigation technologies, has been acquired by Apple, joining the long list of mapping and navigation startups that the Cupertino company has bought recently, which includes Locationary, Embark, Hop Stop, WifiSLAM, and BroadMap.

No specific details of the acquisition have surfaced so far, so it remains unclear whether the acquisition was primarily for talent or technology. However, given the specialty of Coherent Navigation, it is safe to assume that Apple is looking to improve its location services, which includes the faulty Apple Maps but also extends to all other apps that utilizes GPS services in iOS system.

For brands, an improved system-wide location service would mean more accurate proximity-based targeting, which would result in great marketing opportunities to better serve the consumers in hyperlocal markets.

Facebook Strikes Deal With Nokia’s Here For Better Mobile Map

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: TechCrunch

Facebook has quietly inked a deal with Nokia to use its Here mapping division to power location services on Facebook’s mobile website. The company is also running a test with Here data in its proprietary apps like Instagram and Messenger.

Facebook has long been trying to improve its location services, acquiring companies like Glancee, TagTile, and Gowalla to buff up its location technology and talent pool. With this new deal, the social media giant not only can provide users with a more uniform mobile experience and more accuracy in Facebook Places and Instagram venue tagging, but also potentially scale up its online-offline attributions with the superior mapping data that Here promises with more details and accuracy in converting geo-data to actual venues.

From partnerships with Datalogix for POS data, offering retailers in-store WiFi with Cisco, and now the deal with Here, Facebook is making great strides in attacking what marketers have said is their biggest challenge with digital attribution: matching online campaigns to offline conversion.

Hyperlocal Search Soars As Mobile Usage Grows

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: USA Today

On Wednesday, Google released new search data highlighting the surge of localized searches. The report shows that Google’s location-specific “near me” searches have increased 34 times since 2011, and have nearly doubled in the past year alone. The vast majority of these local searches—80% in the last quarter of 2014—come from mobile devices, cementing mobile’s dominant position in the hyperlocal market. 

Moreover, the “here and now” immediacy of hyperlocal searches is great at moving consumers down the sales funnel. Half the consumers who conduct a local search visit a store within that day, with 18% of them making a purchase. Among people who are looking for places to dine out, nearly half of them—and 60% of millennials—search for nearby restaurants within an hour of going.