Knowing the geographic location of your B2B Email List customers in order to offer them offers is becoming the new frontier. Apple offers its own technology in this context, called iBeacon, which is based on Bluetooth LE (Low Energy).
Pilots at Total and Paris City Hall
This is the technology that Total and Paris City Hall are currently testing as part of pilots. At Total, the iBeacon is a way to create in-store traffic at service stations. It would become possible when stopping at a station, to detect the presence of customers and offer them notifications on their smartphone relating to events and promotions available in the store or in the station. The target is the driver but also and above all the passengers. These pilots will be presented during Total Innovation Week.
As far as Paris City Hall is concerned, it is the department responsible for heritage and culture which is currently developing a pilot. The idea is to make the city's heritage speak for itself, particularly that installed in the open air. When tourists and the public in general are located in the immediate environment of a work or element of heritage. The current reflection concerns the development of thematic routes and projects combining reality and digital to give voice to several curiosities and points of interest in Paris.
The NFC big loser
Other solutions are candidates for the geo-location of people in order to offer them promotional offers. This involves WiFi or ultrasound such as Celio is currently deploying with a startup in its stores. The big loser in these experiments is NFC because although it allows contactless payment, it does not allow location. Not long ago, the CEO of Paypal indicated that NFC is a supplier solution disconnected from the real needs of end users.
Photo: iBeacon technology makes it possible to identify a customer's smartphone and offer them targeted promotions.