Awareness High of In-Store Beacons for Smartphones, Says Survey Report

Among the nearly 118 million smartphone owners who plan to use their devices for holiday shopping, awareness is high of in-store beacons, even though that's a relatively new technology, said a Harris poll done for Placecast, a provider of location-based marketing programs for advertisers, mobile operators and payments companies. Beacons are small devices installed in stores that emit a Bluetooth low-energy signal that can be targeted directly to phones, Placecast said Thursday in a blog post. Beacons "can bring the analytics and targeting capabilities of the online experience to physical stores" by sending, for example, a discount for perfume to a 40-year-old woman who has recently done an online search for scents, it said. Harris canvassed 2,066 adult smartphone owners in mid-October and found that 52 percent had heard of in-store beacons, and that 15 percent have engaged with them, Placecast said. "Brands that embrace beacons are highly likely to see a spike in their sales in the coming shopping season and in general," Placecast said. "Consumers are clearly voting in favor of beacons due to stores promoting them and the value they deliver in couponing. While awareness seems high at 52 percent, this may be due to people wanting to identify with the coolness of new technologies, and certainly indicates huge promise for it."