How Location Based Marketing Impacts Online and Offline Retail

Location-based targeting has changed the face of retail, both online and in-stores. Geo-targeting allows marketers to detect a user’s location and serve them offers based on…you guessed it: their location! This high level of relevancy is a huge benefit to brands and consumers.

Here are the top ways that this technology has impacted retail as we know it.

A retailer can track nearby consumers through geo-tracking and accordingly give them directions to its closest stores. Why talk about the chain as a whole when you can mention the closest location?

By running ads showing where to view, touch, and purchase their products, retailers can close the gap between brand engagement and product purchase. Click through rates can improve dramatically by adding something of local relevance, whether the desired outcome is to drive traffic in stores or some other form of engagement.

Retailers can also use location marketing for creating brand awareness by claiming a place with broad reach and using display units or SMS, with no call to action. Brands can ‘claim’ a place by associating their messages with physical locations in proximity through geo-fencing. This allows them to reach a large number of people by leveraging geo-targeting and mediums like mobile display. Examples of this would be a ski apparel brand geo-fencing ski resorts, or a luggage brand geo-fencing airports.

Retailers can use geolocation technology to send targeted coupons to a specific shopper at a specific location, which is the equivalent to one-to-one personalized marketing. Special gifts, alerts to flash sales and early access are also popular incentives.

Relevant mobile coupons are very helpful to engage shoppers in real time and drive them to a nearby store to make a purchase. In fact, 50 percent of shoppers are more likely to visit a store if they have received a mobile coupon.

Location-based marketing (LBM) is a great opportunity for consumer products brands to connect with their consumers wherever their products are sold, either working with their retailers via co-marketing or engaging with consumers independently from those distribution channels. Using LBM methods enables brands to communicate special offers or discounts, with a call-to-action that lets the consumer know where they can purchase the product or line nearby.