Proximity Marketing Case Study - Research Paper Example

Merchants and retailers are usually concerned about inventing better ways that can be used to present the actual immediate marketing to clients. For this objective to be attained, a retailer may use various approaches. They may fix a system that will be used to identify a customer and further comprehend when they are near to an appropriate location for the marketing offers to be presented. For instance, the ability of a retailer to perceive that a client is near may enable them to display a marketing message especially to the customers that are proximally appropriate. Furthermore, if the retailer can in an accurate way and in the right time identify a client who is near or even next to a proximal marketing area, then the retail store can modify the offer to that precise consumer. For the entire aspect of proximity determinations to be successful, it is necessary to ensure that some elements have been fully met. These are such as good client experience and cost effectiveness for the customer and retailer (Hutchison, 2013).

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The use of proximity marketing began to be presented to the public around 2008. This is the time when firms were able to send text messages that had been triggered by the location to cell phones that were close to a Bluetooth network and had the discoverable mode on as well. Additionally, at that time, proximity marketing could not take off in full dimensions as a result of various factors. There were limited technology and the lack of privacy as well. Consumers were not given the opportunity to choose the sources that they would want to receive messages from and whether they even wanted to receive the message in the first place. The Bluetooth at that time consumed the battery massively, and the hardware was also quite expensive (Rinallo, Bathelt & Golfetto, 2016). Furthermore, there were no tools that could be used to set a framework for the interaction. This is as a result of the receiver of the message being almost like a stranger to the sender. There was also a severe limitation to scaling since 2008 was the beginning of smartphones era, and thus very few had been sold. As such, proximity marketing only acted as a potential of the location-based advertising to the new marketers (Grewal, Bart, Spann, & Zubecsek, 2016). However, the challenges pointed out did not deter it from being fully implemented as it was tested and depicted positive results especially with the returns on investment.

Moreover, proximity marketing has been incorporated among the four Ps of marketing which is, product, price, promotion and place. These are usually the major pillars of the entire marketing strategy that have seen investors and even firms obtain huge benefits from them during their application. As such, the aspect of Proximity is also being included as it is deemed quite relevant to investors in the current world. It is referred to as a link between the firm and consumers (Bellemare, Carrier, Nielsen, & Piller, 2017). With the concept of proximity in place, the physical position of a good concerning the client entails a new form of an element that had previously not been explored as a result of limited technology that has continued to advance in the recent years. The entire notion of proximity marketing is sometimes referred to as hyper-local marketing. This is as a result of its utilization of the cellular form of technology to deliver marketing messages to the users of mobile phones who are close to the business (Petro, 2014).

The use of proximity marketing tools has further been observed as a way of generating a high return on investments in a firm or in places where it is utilized. It has a tremendous capability of generating high revenues and even allows all the users ranging from hotels, retailers, and firms to develop a deep connection with their clients. In this way, it encourages more loyalty and improves the experiences of customers to a great deal. Proximity marketing is thus made to be a very useful tool that generates high returns on the investments that have been made by advertisers and businesses as well (Hutchison, 2013).

1.2 Description

Proximity marketing refers to the distribution of content that is meant for advertising through the wireless form. Alternatively, it can be analyzed as a system that makes use of the location technologies to communicate in a direct way with clients through their portable gadgets. The use of proximity marketing is one of the greatest tools that can be used by retailers to cover a wide market or access a comprehensive range of customers. This is through their mobile appliances to get them near the place of sale and deliver the appropriate and targeted content by the setting of the communication (Levesque & Boeck, 2017). However, the use of proximity marketing is not limited to the use of mobile phones only. It can also be implemented to use various other different methods as well. The modern laptops have been enabled by the GPS and can further be targeted through the proximity technologies. There is the Wi-Fi Hotspot that allows one to view dynamic marketing content which is directly pushed to the user through the web browser (Namiot & Schneps-Schneppe, 2011). There is also Geofencing. When one moves from one place to another with their phone, their mobile phone is usually managed between towers. The text message marketing systems can then use their location to push the text messages to the devices that are within a particular region. This is what is referred to as SMS Geofencing. It can be quite significant to ensure that the message is sent to the targeted audience at the exact time that one wants as well (Zeto, Rippetoe, Shaw, Mercer, Gaxiola, Williams & Johansson, 2013).

One can further understand the scope of proximity marketing with the use of microfencing which utilizes the Bluetooth ideals to detect smartphones that are within specified geographic boundaries. It can be compared to GPS since it can identify the location. However, on the other hand, it is finer and offers an excellent form of accuracy. Microfencing further gives the opportunity for the geographic target range to be anywhere from a few inches up to fifty meters from the location where there is a beacon (Finley, Smith, Mosher, Rieta & Hughes, 2013). However, microfencing does not give one maximum privacy and security. This is as a result of the lack of policies that are needed for the clients to participate or even on the type of information to track, store and even share. Moreover, there must be a Bluetooth present, unlike proximity marketing that gives way for other devices to be utilized (Tadajewski, 2015).

1.3 Aims and Objectives

The study on proximity marketing is meant at achieving various benefits at the end. They include;

To identify the benefits for corporation with the application of the process of proximity marketing.

To diagnose and pinpoint weaknesses, limitation and problems that are incurred from such technologies ranging from the initiation to the ending phase.

1.4 Purpose

The case study on proximity marketing enables businesses to set up their aims and needs concerning the revenues or profits anticipated. As such, it will present an opportunity to explore and analyze the objectives and requirements that need to be met by businesses once they engage in proximity marketing. It is essential to conduct a study on proximity marketing to analyze why companies usually invest in such solutions. Various reasons drive businesses to engage in marketing activities. However, in every marketing strategy chosen, there is usually a goal or target to be met or achieved. Investing in proximity marketing is a strategy that is being employed by many businesses. Therefore, by a company investing in this form of marketing strategy, they can compete in a more efficient manner with their competitors as well. With its utilization, a firm can understand their customer regarding their buying and browsing patterns (Ciaramitaro, 2012). With proximity marketing, it can be compared to the utilization of e-commerce. As such, it is easier to understand the segments of various customers and their needs as well. This is easily done through conducting a study of the large bits of information that is found online about clients. Moreover, most businesses have chosen to invest in the proximity marketing solutions such as the use of Wi-Fi hotspot and geofencing since it offers an opportunity to enrich the customer engagement network (Harrison, 2013). These are some of the few reasons as to why businesses have chosen to invest in the proximity marketing solutions.

The direction of the market is usually determined by aspects such as those that are coming up in the field of marketing. With proximity marketing, it is bound to give a new direction of the entire market by, for instance, defining the most convenient tools to be utilized in marketing activities. The tools can range from mobile devices to geofencing up to Wi-Fi hotspots (Namiot & Schneps-Schneppe, 2011). However, in the study, it will also be significant to explore and analyze the direction of the market about proximity marketing.

Moreover, the entire study of proximity marketing will enable the determination of what can be achieved once it is implemented in various businesses. Numerous benefits are bound to be attained through the use of proximity marketing and as such, it will be essential to critically study and comprehend them concerning their application in business activities.

Chapter 2. Background Information Theory

2.1 Players in the Market

In any broad market, there must be key players to ensure that everything thrives in a smooth manner. In the sector of proximity marketing, there are also the players who ensure that the industry is managed in a smooth manner. These players entail the entrepreneurs who identified a gap in the market and decided to fill it through investments. There are the Meraki analytics, Purple WIFI, Zootle and Euklid among other types or forms.

The Meraki analytics has been developed by Cisco and enables the real-time location statistics to be displayed. In this way, the engagement and loyalty of consumers are thus improved across various sites. It can further be looked at in the perspective of utilizing the intelligent access points to convey the actual location data in a direct manner to the clients. As such, it gives room for the incorporation of the third party applications that belong to the retailers and applications that have been custom-built. The Meraki Analytics has the capability of detecting the presence of users by inquiry requests which are beaconing from various Wi-Fi devices. These can be such as tablets, laptops, and smartphones (Costello, Konary, Mahowald, & Mehra, 2015). Once data has been transferred to the Meraki cloud for analysis to be conducted critically, and in depth, Meraki will then offer an actual diagnosis with the Wi-Fi devices present. Moreover, in the course of performing the analytics, there are instinctive and customizable graphs that are usually present. As such, they enable the facilitation of important perceptions into styles such as the dwelling time of visitors, the new and usual visitors as well as their movement concerning a particular time of the day. This form of visibility thus eases a deeper comprehension of the WiFi hotspots visitors and proposes visions. The visions are such as the duration for a hotel stay in the lobby, capture frequency for a retail outlet or the firm branch office as well.

Meraki analytics has various features that enable it to perform its functions. It has an APS that can detect any review requests that have been made from the devices that are enabled by a WiFi. In this way, it can capture several number...