3 Dec
From American Eagle to Apple Stores, beacons are popping up everywhere. Are they a shopper's best friend or another pesky Big Brother monitoring our every move?
The square or rectangular devices, smaller than a smartphone, can hang on a wall or be placed on a machine and communicate with your phone via Bluetooth signals. Accessed through apps you download to your smartphone, beacon technology can do everything from guide you to the correct airport terminal to turn on your coffee maker as you sleepily enter the kitchen. In retail, beacons aim to entice you to spend money. As you enter a store, your smartphone might light up with a sale alert. Stand in the dress section for a while and a coupon may pop up for something on a nearby hanger.
"The most important thing a shopper might need to get access to when they go into a store are ratings and reviews, coupons and promotions," said Erik McMillan, CEO of Shelfbucks, which is working with video game retailer GameStop and others on its beacon marketing. Beacons give customers that research right there in the store ? when they have their wallets and are looking to buy.
Macy's Inc. has installed beacons in all of its 840 department stores; other chains such as Kohl's are testing them in some locations. McMillan likens beacons to the early days of retail websites in the 1990s when "all of a sudden it got to the point that 'you can't not have a website'." He predicts the technology will skyrocket from the 50,000 beacons in use now to between 5 million and 10 million next year.
