Tag: beacons

Beacons and the hype cycle

Industry experts believe beacon technologies are being overhyped in the retail sector.

Are beacon technologies being overhyped? Some industry experts believe they are in the retail sector.

This week’s Netsuite Suiteworld conference had a heavy focus on the retail industry and one of the points being strongly made is that beacon technologies are a long way from prime time in the sector.

A reason for this is the current clunkiness of beacon driven apps points out Miya Knights, Senior Research Analyst of IDC Retail Insights, “customers have to go through the rigmarole of downloading apps, accepting permissions and so on. It’s too hard.”

One of the answers to this could be in creating compelling reasons to install the app, at the eBay Innovation Showcase last year the company showed off some of the potential with how a connected sports stadium could make ticketing easier while improving access to food and drink concessions.

However for many stores Knights’ point is going to remain a problem as creating a value proposition that encourages time and attention poor customers to enable apps will be difficult.

On the other hand, it may well be that beacon technologies are currently better suited in being used for the business operations in roles such as stock control and point of sale systems.

For the beacons themselves it’s likely we’re seeing the hype cycle in action with the technology grinding its way to The Peak of Inflated expectations.

Should it be the case that beacons could be about to become unfashionable, then we’ll start to see the technology find its industrial role.

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Using beacons to help the visually impaired

Transport for London trails a beacon based system to help the sight impaired.

Transport for London is trialling a scheme where visually impaired passengers on the Underground can use NFC beacons to navigate the system reports the BBC.

Using beacons and smartphones to assist the disabled is exactly the sort of applications we can see being rolled out to help all members of the community.

These services are illustrations of how newer technologies are going to help level the workforce and make our cities more accessible for those who are less able bodied.

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A year of competing beacons

Are we looking at too many beacon technologies?

It’s early in 2015 but year shaping up as being one where beacon technologies start rolling out in meaningful numbers as Facebook joins the rush.

Beacons are, as name suggests, small radio devices that signal their location to smartphones and wearable computers. If someone has the right software on their system, the beacon can alert them about anything from shopping offers to the presence of hazardous material.

The biggest potential market for beacons currently is the retail sector along with stadiums and concert venues although the industrial aspects shouldn’t be underestimated. Along with sports stadiums some of the more enthusiastic early adopters have been mall owners and local shopping strips as they see the opportunity of delivering more value to customers.

A question facing retailers and shopping centre owners is whether we’ll see competing networks of beacons being deployed as Facebook, PayPal, Apple and dozens of other companies rollout their own technologies. We may end up with a situation where businesses get sick of being nagged to install multiple devices for their shops or workplaces.

There’s also the problem of crosstalk as the different beacons interfere with each other. In places like shopping malls multiple transmitters could prove confusing for even the smartest smartphone.

Again we’re seeing how silos are developing across the Internet of Things sector as vendors release products tied up in their own proprietary standards.

As the cost of beacons has come down – many are available for under a dollar – the ability of vendors to offer networks has increased dramatically, over this year we can expect all the big players to release their own systems in attempt to control a slice of the market.

For beacons to really succeed in the marketplace it’s going to be necessary for vendors to agree on common standards. If we end up with a rag-tag collection of competing networks, then the promise of the technology will surely be lost.

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Connecting people to spaces

Smartphones, beacons and smart software are the key to future retail success believes Proximity Insight’s Steve Orell

Beacon technologies are one of the hottest items in the Internet of Things with retailers, sports stadiums and hotels looking at how they  can use these devices to improve their operations and customer experiences.

At Dreamforce 2014 Proximity Insight’s Steve Orell spoke on the event’s wearable panel about how their service plugs into beacon technology and customer service.

Proximity Insight was born out of the 2013 Dreamforce Hackathon where Orell and his team were finalists. From that, the company set up operations in New York with a focus on customer relationship management in the retail industry.

Retail isn’t the only the field that Orell sees for Proximity Insight with the hotel and casino industries as being other targets.

“With the hotel, why check-in? Why not walk in and let your smartphone do it for you?” Orell asks.

“It’s all about making live so much more seamless and slick,” Orell adds. “There’s opportunities in every sector.”

For businesses looking at rolling out beacon technologies the key is to be adding value to enhance the customer experience, Orell believes.

“You have to be delivering something to the customer beyond tracking them, it’s about making the whole retail or hospitality experience better. It has to benefit the customer.”

With beacon technologies now becoming common and the supporting hardware being built into all smartphones, we can expect to see more applications coming onto the market. It’s worth considering how your business can use them to enhance the customer experience.

Paul travelled to Dreamforce 2014 as a guest of Salesforce

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Regent Street fights back

London’s Regent Street shows how main street retailers can use new technology to reinvent themselves

Main street shopping strips have had a hard time over the past forty years as supermarkets and big box stores have steadily drained customers away, however the new wave of retail, manufacturing and logistics technologies may be an opportunity to revitalise them.

A good example of shopping strips using new technologies is London’s Regent Street with its smart shopping app that integrates with iBeacon location devices,  the website Contactless Intelligence reports how shopkeepers, landlords and the local authorites are rolling out an initiative as part of a £1 billion regeneration project.

London’s Regent Street is a fairly unique mainstreet in that it’s extremely upmarket which gives it a lot of advantages over most neighbourhoods, but it does point the way for how other shopping strips can use new technologies to reinvent themselves.

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