Mobile location analytics (MLA) is a type of customer intelligence that refers to a technology that creates aggregate reports which can be used to reduce wait times at checkout, improve store layouts, and figure out how customers shop. The reports are made by tracking the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth addresses of cell phones as they connect to networks.
For instance, retailers can move or use the way devices move to figure out how to best set up their floor plans, place ads, and staff checkout lanes. Mobile location analytics products work by getting a device's MAC address, which is a 12-digit number that is unique to each piece of hardware. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth sensors can detect this number.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have their own MAC addresses. Beacons, which work with Bluetooth, are also used for mobile location analytics. They can send push notifications using this technology. Companies have recently started to use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth together to make mobile location analytics devices more accurate and reliable. As people move, tracking companies pick up on their wireless signals and give each device a random number. They keep an eye on that number as it moves across the screen and look for patterns in the data.
Uses of Mobile Location Analytics
The retail, real estate, energy, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, government, and public safety industries can all use mobile location analytics services. Retailers, for example, can compare sales revenue and assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Businesses can choose where to open stores and where to distribute their products. Mobile location analytics is also useful in emergency situations. Hospitals can predict the demand for new vaccines and make sense of unexpected disease outbreaks. This is possible because the location can be used by any information system, desktop solution, or mobile app.
Analytics in-store
According to one study, brick-and-mortar stores account for 94% of total retail sales.
As a result, the retail store continues to be a critical focus.
In-store analytics is beginning to resemble online store analytics. Stores can use mobile location analytics to see where customers go and linger, determine whether they are shopping alone or with friends or children, and match shopping to the weather. One company with small stores in malls discovered that the area just inside the store entrance was a dead zone. They relocated the most popular items further inside the store. Because they had duplicate inventory, another store couldn't tell which display sold better. They were about to take down the wall displays when they decided to consult with a mobile location analytics company. After creating a heat map to see foot traffic, they reduced the size of the floor displays and made it easier for customers to walk through to the wall displays. The stores now want to use analytics to find out if the displays at the ends of aisles hurt sales of the same items that are stacked halfway down the aisle or if they help make more sales. With mobile location analytics, it is possible.
Mobile location analytics-based counts help ensure that stores are adequately staffed at all times of the day and enable businesses to draw connections between transaction data and traffic.
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