It remains difficult for brands to link digital engagement to physical sales.
“That’s a big challenge,” acknowledged Luanne Bryant, digital marketing manager at City
Furniture, at OMMA Miami on Monday. “We are limited by the technology that we have in the retail establishments; the point of sale is a little old school. I think that’s a huge challenge
not just for us, but for retailers in general.”
It’s a challenge marketers are actively attempting to conquer. Rocket Fuel claimed last week that its new
mobile targeting technology, which uses Placed for location-based ad targeting, has a significant impact on physical sales. Oracle also shelled out a reported high hundreds of millions of dollars to
acquire Datalogix, an audience-targeting firm that specializes in connecting digital ads to physical sales.
A significant piece of the puzzle is also in the process of falling into place:
beacons. Beacons are opening up the prospect of “physical
retargeting,” among other things.
“Beacons are about to change the entire way to market to people [in retail],” said West Herford, managing partner at On Ideas.