The Indian retail market is set to surpass 1.7 trillion USD by 2025. One of the significant technology trends propelling retailers’ skyrocket growth is mapping and geospatial data programs. By incorporating Location Intelligence(LI), companies can now move quickly from simple products to more complex use cases, thus creating a differentiating competitive edge.
Simply put, location data coupled with business data or processes enable retailers to draw meaningful insights, discover relationships between various factors, and identify trends. Every retail transaction happens somewhere. With location data, it is super easy to correlate the ‘where’ to the ‘what’, ‘who’, ‘why’, and ‘how’ of every transaction.
Location intelligence solutions and platforms enable retailers to create innovative services based on people’s real-time movement, vehicles, and packages. Here are our top three picks on Location Intelligence use cases shaping up customer engagement in 2021
We all have at least once experienced that nerve-wrenching moment where we drive to a store to pick up a specific product only to realize that it just went out of stock a few moments ago. With real-time location data, store-level inventory data can be visible to customers to confirm that a product is available before they come to a store to buy it.
Large retail outlets have started optimizing shopping lists and store-level shopping guidance to help customers locate products efficiently. It is now a walk in the park to make in-store recommendations based on a customer’s past purchases, known preferences, and location within the store.
Another aspect of in-store shopping that most of the customers detest is the never-ending billing queue. It is a frustrating experience for a customer to wait for eternity to check out. With Location Intelligence, you can optimize the store experience by predicting queuing and waiting times. This way, customers have visibility on how long it would take and plan their shopping day accordingly.
Thanks to the pandemic outbreak, be it buying online or home delivery requests from physical stores, they have become essential services for consumers. It allows customers to stay safe and accomplish more in less time and survive in today’s fast-paced world.
Recent consumer research reports reveal that about 87% of consumers were highly likely or more likely to shop again with an online merchant following a positive delivery experience. Conversely, 56% of those abandoning an online shopping cart did so because the delivery options on an offer were too expensive, and 39% because the delivery would take too long.
A retailer’s information on their website or mobile application regarding product availability, delivery, or pick-up times has to be consistent and accurate. It requires greater visibility into the supply chain from the manufacturer to the store and everywhere in between. Real-time location knowledge about the customers such as where they are and the route they are taking to get there is critical in rolling out such product features.
Lenskart, one of the largest optical retail chains in India, has been a pioneer in leveraging Location Intelligence to deliver customer delight. Lenskart uses Google maps Places API to help customers input their current address on Lenskart website. Customers have flexi-mode delivery options to select the store and “purchase online pickup offline” or purchase online and get it delivered at home.
Today’s customer preference for personalized communication is mind-boggling. About 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with relevant offers and recommendations (source). That means, companies not prioritizing creating a tailored experience run the risk of getting left behind.
It is essential to identify the right personalization strategies to not come off as a creepy marketer by knowing it all. Here are a few interesting ways in which Location Intelligence helps you deliver the right amount of relevant information.
There are quite a few Indian brands like OLX, Bose India that have run successful LI-based marketing campaigns. For instance, OLX India reached 2nd hand automobile & mobile markets using pin-codes. Users received personalized, contextual overlay ads using apps and mobile sites. The campaign duration was six weeks and garnered about 500,000 unique visitors at the mere three paise cost. Olx also witnessed a surge in app installation, and about 60% of the installs resulted in transactions. In a nutshell, when leveraged the right way, LI can offer innovation, targeted advertising, and, more importantly, a successful campaign with a very impressive ROI.
We are leaving you with food for thought. Is Location Intelligence part of your 2021 growth strategy?
Let us know your thoughts on how you plan to deliver a hassle-free shopping experience and put a huge smile on customers!
