The Digital Evolution of Physical Retail: Opnia Introduces Advos to Bring Customized In-Store Offers to Shoppers
Marketers want to reach consumers to build brand image and to advertise before they make purchasing decisions. But it doesn’t end there — not anymore.
Now top retailers want to target shoppers in-store, offering information, special offers, and other goodies that improve sales across the board.
The strategy just got a boost from Opnia, a Minneapolis-based ad tech company. The firm has launched Advos, an Internet of Things (IoT) platform for physical stores that “brings the convenience and efficiency of the online shopping experience to physical retail stores.”
The iBeacon-powered technology allows retailers using Advos to present a customized data-driven experience to visitors shopping in their stores. More than half of the 100 top tier retailers in the U.S. are planning to test iBeacons in 2015. As a result, Advos is poised to become a big boost for brick-and-mortar merchants.
“With Advos, retail has become a far richer and interactive experience,” said Brook Oldre, co-founder, Opnia. “When customers are shopping in cosmetics or electronics, vendors can reach their customers in-real time as they’re making purchasing decisions, offering coupons, user reviews or relevant contextual information.”
“As an omni-channel platform, Advos benefits both retailers and their customers,” the company announced in a news release. “It helps retailers by taking the analytic and re-targeting methods of ecommerce and applying them to brick-and-mortar locations. Through iBeacons and mobile apps, Advos allows retailers to track customer habits and traffic within physical stores and to quickly use the data to enhance sales.”
The technology also helps with analysis of in-store marketing, effectiveness of specific displays, optimum positioning of end caps, and sales information from targeted locations in a store.
Opnia is upbeat about its product, and will enter Advos in Facebook’s “Marketing Partner Competition for 2015″ in tandem with plans to partner with Facebook on new programs.
