Food for thought: 330 Million Americans using some 200 Million smartphone devices who tend to use their smartphone as ones ‘life remote’. A May 2014 study from Google revealed near 60% of consumers use Google search every month to find ‘local’ information in which 1 in 5 local searches leads to an in-store purchase. These numbers are climbing as I’m certain you’ve stood in line at a retail spot or grocer noticing someone around you scouting a better online deal than what’s in front of them.
This is a telling tale as to the present consumer experience with less than 1 in 10 websites being built mobile responsive with a mindful multi-screen strategy approach to your customers. Without a strategic digital approach your organization might be one of the many who don’t enjoy being a part of the 61% mobile searches leading to a warm phone call inquiring about your product or service – locally.
Why does this matter? Interconnectivity. While you may not buy the latest smart washing machine or smart fridge just yet, the world around you is! CISCO forecasts some 30+ Billion through to as high as 65+ billion connected smart devices which will blanket our world over the course of the next 5 years! Imagine every consumer touch point digitized and analyzed by Marketing Technologists [like us] who use this information to give you precisely the right product and service at the moment you are looking for that product or service. Furthermore, when this “Eco-System” captures your smartphone movements (either in your hand, in your pocket, or in your car), enticing you to purchase what you already want through couponing has been found to compound in-store traffic. This, a marketers holy grail, is here upon us now.
Macy’s rolled out their iBeacon pilot test through 2014. After review, Kent Anderson, president of Macy’s said, “The customer who gets more engaged in more of the channels that Macy’s has to offer gives us more wallet share.” This truism applies to your best customers too!
What’s next? As the beacon environment stabilizes, this micro-location targeting technology will boost local economies. Those groups that pull together to collect, share and market to their local business ecosystems directly will benefit greatest here! It’s no secret shopping local returns twice the economic value than in shopping at multinational entities who currently house over $1.6 Trillion dollars offshore outside of the USA.
As technology adapts and accelerates, I hope you and your organization has a strategic marketing technology plan to leverage one of the greatest opportunities in the last century and half – what’s your part of the $15+ trillion digital economy will you are hoping to capture? Better yet – are you prepared?
