Many experts agree that taking the power of digital advertising to the retail stores is a great way to reap significant benefits. One company, Swirl, is working on making it easier than ever for both advertisers and retail locations to do just that. Swirl offers a full platform to retailers and brands so that they can market directly to their customers through beacons in the store. The idea has attracted significant investors, including Twitter Ventures.
Swirl has raised $18 million in Series C investments. The money came from a hand full of venture capital companies and others.
The beacons run by Swirl use Bluetooth technology to follow customers as they walk through a retail location. Using an advanced algorithm it will determine how and when to send massages to the smart phones in the store. For example, if someone has been wandering through the washer & dryer section of an appliance store for a set amount of time, Swirl can automatically send them a coupon code for 10% off any purchase of a washer & dryer combo.
There are many obvious ways this can be used to benefit brands as well as the customers. In addition to offering discounts or other incentives for buying something, brands can take the information that is gathered about the customers and use that to improve store layout and other things.
At this point, customers must have a specific app installed on their smart phone to get the notification, which is a concern for many people. If Twitter or other large companies like this invest, however, it may be possible to have those apps trigger the system as well, which would instantly make the entire system even more powerful.
While widespread implementation is still a ways off, this is clearly something that will be used extensively in the future, and something that marketers of all types should be aware of. Learning about these innovative advertising and marketing strategies can help you to stay ahead of the game.
