Beacons: Getting Beyond The Buzz
Beacons, especially Apple’s iBeacon, are this year’s It Girl when it comes to retail technology. The Bluetooth low-energy (BLE)-based system that lets smartphones interact with sensors placed in physical locations is generating ample buzz and blue-sky predictions about how it can drive in-store sales from mobile-addicted shoppers.
But a new Forrester report suggests the hype obscures the effort required to maintain a beacon platform in-store, as well as the full benefits it could bring to businesses and consumers. That’s not surprising, considering that the rollout of the technology is still at an early stage. (More…)
