THE BEACONS REPORT: Why the CPG category is poised to become an early leader in beacon-based marketing

BI Intelligence

Beacons are one of the most important new in-store technologies. These small, inexpensive pieces of hardware, which communicate with smartphone apps via Bluetooth, are helping brick-and-mortar retailers enhance customer loyalty, gather data about their customers, and provide an entry point for in-store shoppers to become more digitally engaged.

As the devices begin to go mainstream, brands and retailers in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market stand to see the biggest lift from beacon programs. That's because CPG products are typically inexpensive items that are purchased frequently. This allows beacons to gather lots of data on shopping habits and use that data to send personalized, location-based messages.

Over the past year, numerous major CPG retailers have rolled out beacons to brick-and-mortar locations, including Rite Aid, Walmart, and Target. The devices are being used in a variety of ways to reach customers at various steps in the path to purchase. While beacons are most commonly associated with pushing coupons and discounts, they are also helpful in the planning stage and for discovering new products through personalized content and advertisements.

In BI Intelligence's new Beacons and CPG Report, we forecast the amount of CPG sales that will be triggered by beacons this year, look at why CPGs are the best market for implementing beacons, and discuss how CPG retailers are currently using them. We also outline some of the potential barriers to successful beacon engagement for CPG retailers.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• This is an important time for the CPG brick-and-mortar industry, with Amazon pushing further into the CPG category, and CPG sales increasingly expected to move online. Total US online sales of consumer packaged goods (CPGs) increased 42% year-over-year (YoY) in 2015, according to 1010data. This is compared with 30% YoY growth for the e-commerce industry overall.

• The total CPG market — including offline and online sales — is expected to total more than $407 billion by the end of 2016, according to Statista. This gives retailers a large customer base to target with beacon technology.

• CPG shoppers are already using their mobile devices to research products and redeem coupons in-store. Considering this, retailers have a huge opportunity to reach customers where they are already spending much of their time with personalized ads and content.
• Beacons are currently most associated with pushing coupons and discounts to consumers who are shopping in-store. However, many beacon companies say the technology is useful for a wide variety of CPG retail purposes like product discovery, planning for shopping trips, and aiding in-store pick-up.
• While beacons are making their way into the mainstream retail market, there are still a number of barriers these retailers must overcome when deploying the devices. There are a number of requirements a shopper must meet on their mobile phones to be beacon receptive — and declining foot traffic means a smaller potential audience overall.

In full, the report:

• Examines the current CPG retail market in the US.
• Forecasts how many CPG sales will be influenced by beacon-triggered content this year.
• Breaks down the various use cases for beacons along the purchase funnel.
• Highlights major beacon deployments among top CPG retailers and brands.
• Discusses potential barriers to beacon adoption and consumer engagement.

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