Location-Based Social Networks Increase Retail Customer Enagement:
Extending your storefront design and store signage with smartphone applications.
by David Ringler
Dominant storefront design, creative window display, and iconic signage will always be essential elements of a store’s visual marketing strategy. These all work together to engage brand-loyal customers and attract new customers who may not be familiar with your brand. But the power of outstanding store design and premier location is now extending far beyond sight lines and store visibility.
A quickly growing pool of Location-Based Social Networks (LBSN) apps, each with its own unique twist, are helping business owners project their retail brand through walls, across city blocks, and outside the mall parking lot. It’s time to extend your store’s visibility too, with smartphone apps that are easier to use (and cheaper) than you think. Here are a few ways to take advantage of the movement that is taking retailing by storm:
1. Foursquare is the granddaddy of LBSN’s, boasting over four million users, including astronaut Douglas Wheelock, who recently made the first social networking “check in” from space. Besides earning “badges” for participating, users have access to surprisingly accurate consumer reviews of stores, restaurants, coffee bars, etc., as well as a small-but-growing number of Foursquare-exclusive shopping specials. It’s easy to register your business on Foursquare, and start drawing users in with greater visibility and exclusive offers.
2. Layar is a “reality browser.” Currently supported by iPhone and Android OS, Layar uses the camera function of your phone to overlay digital information of the world around you, ranging from historic information to… wait for it… shopping, dining, and entertainment options. Users open the app, select the layer they want to see (i.e. the “casual dining” layer brings up all appropriate restaurants) and use their phone to look through walls like Superman, with dots highlighting key locations blocks away.
What does this mean for you as a business owner? Buffalo Wild Wing’s, for instance, has created a BW3 Layer, so that users can “see” all of their restaurant locations within a range of their choosing. Once you have opened the radar to find the location that interests you, a menu of options lets you to get directions, call the restaurant, or read reviews at the touch of a button. As a business owner, if your business is not showing up on Layar, try creating an account.
3. Peekabo Mobile launched in March, and caters to the Blackberry and Android OS user. It’s similar to WeReward (discussed later), but has a few intriguing value-adds for business owners. Peekaboo gives subscribing businesses (about $20 per month) access to its user base, which can give small businesses more information about the users in their area, not just users who check in at their location. Peekaboo offers a free 30-day trial, so it’s risk free to experiment.
4. WeReward could be the future of LBSN’s. It takes the Foursquare concept a step further and adds hard benefits for checking in at your business. Users earn points when they check in: one point is worth one cent in cold, hard cash! Davis Wince is particularly excited about WeReward because of the flexibility and marketing muscle it offers the business owner as well as the user. Afraid that business may be slow at your restaurant on Thanksgiving? Offer a 200-point bonus to diners who check in, eat, and upload a photo of their pumpkin pie. Once you sign up, you will be able to add your logo, images, set reward levels, create reward tasks for customers, and even track your customers’ activities by using a special Customer Management tool on your account’s dashboard. There is cost associated with managing your account, but the dashboard allows you to easily determine ROI.
Davis Wince believes that smartphone-app retailing is a growth area worth investigating. Feel free to contact David Ringler at 614-785.0505 or dringler@daviswince.com with any questions or comments on what we’ve discussed here.
