Garnering maximum insights out of the data that is available today is the go-to practice for companies in the retail sector, to enhance their marketing strategies. To this end, the geographical factor is transcendental, with geo-marketing coming into play. Traditionally, stores have looked into the geo-locational aspect that is applicable for marketing processes, however, in recent times with the rise of location intelligence, geo-marketing has been able to expand its functionalities with the help of technological development immensely.
Before the pandemic hit us globally, online retail sales were expected to surpass the threshold of $6.5 trillion by the year 2023. Post the various kinds of lockdown measures that have been undertaken across the world, there has been a sharp spike in online retail sales as a result. Whether this spike will end up resulting in long-term numbers or not, one thing is for certain, online retailers, especially smaller ones, need effective geo-marketing tools to enhance their customer acquisition skills and garner new customers.
Here’s what Geo-marketing entails:
- Geotargeting: Hinging on targeting people in a broader general area, with the help of their mobile device location, geotargeting, takes in additional factors like age, gender, interest, etc. which, when combined with geolocation, can help in filtering in or even filtering out your target audience.
- Geofencing: As the name suggests, geofencing sets up a virtual radius, or a fence around the area, to target the people who enter that particular location.
- Beacon Technology: Beacons can be defined as small Bluetooth enabled (BLE) devices that get triggered when someone is in close proximity to them. They trigger a signal, that ends of sending an SMS, in-app, or push message. However, a point of consideration would be the fact that beacons only work when the Bluetooth of your target audience’s mobile is turned on, hence the efficacy can vary.
When put together in conjunction, geo-marketing technologies can enhance your chances of identifying and reaching out to the right audience, in the right area, thus improving your chances of acquiring new consumers. Depending upon your ultimate goal, evaluating the advantages and limitations of each of the technology mentioned above will help you in identifying which geo-marketing technique will suit your needs the best and can be utilised for reaching out to new customers in a target area.
Apart from their own establishments, retailers and manufacturers can also capitalise on trade fairs and other events. For example, exhibitors can present themselves at the right local events based on geo-marketing. In this way the solutions can help in the implementation of investments in a more targeted and efficient manner, thus increasing the chances of success in acquiring new customers.
Customers can receive individual offers, coupons, additional information on the products, as soon as they are near the store or in fact, Internet-based services can also be utilised from around the world to provide not only general offers but also individualized offers as per the location of the users. Today the detailed applications of geo-marketing are infinite – ranging from determination of market potential and performance target through specific product planning, assortment and sales training to even sales territory planning and store network optimisation.
All these techniques pull through by evaluation of individual locations, in accordance with the infrastructure, competition, catchment area or product range – which can also help you in better customer care, thus enabling acquisition of new customers.
As witnessed by us already, the geographical factor places businesses in a privileged position for taking decisions. With opportunities that have presented themselves now, which were earlier non-existent, strategies based on geo-marketing can help in optimising resources available to businesses. Thus, implementing geo-marketing systems supposes the acquisition of competitive advantage, and supplements customer acquisition for retailers effectively.
