• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, November 12, 2015

Activities between beacons and Wi-Fi continue to one-up each other.

Just a few days ago, InMarket publicly launched its new beacon data tracking system that can predict the best times and locations to send an ad when the technology concludes that the consumer is due for their next store visit

The targeting resulted in an 8% increase in store trips and 14% increase in the amount of money spent per trip, as I wrote about here earlier this week (Beacon Data Tells When a Consumer Is Due to Shop).

Now a Wi-Fi implementation at malls and shopping centers is driving offers to mobile shoppers after they tap into the local Wi-Fi, which directs the shoppers to a default page containing promotions or offers from retailers inside the mall.

The Wi-Fi system from StepsAway, now expanding into four more Taubman shopping centers, is also delivering numbers, according to the company.

More than 20 million offers have been seen by consumers since the program launched in several shopping centers a year ago.

Some stats from the Wi-Fi messaging and advertising system:

• Average retail offers are viewed 15,000 to 30,000 times monthly per mall during non-holiday periods
• Shoppers typically access 25 offers each time they log onto the StepsAway Wi-Fi, which is available only at the malls
• The redemption range of offers delivered is between 7% and 25%

In addition, mall developers have reported that their mall Wi-Fi usage nearly doubles after the localized promotions have been deployed.

The intriguing aspect of beacons and Wi-Fi is the potential connection or, perhaps more accurately, the handoff between the two.

For example, the InMarket beacon system could tell when a person is due for a store visit and send a relevant ad when that person arrives at a particular shopping center.

When at the mall, that same consumer could log in to the StepsAway Wi-Fi system and receive yet another promotion from a nearby store.

At launch last year, retailers using the mall messaging platform included Sephora, Express, GNC, Things Remembered and Art of Shaving.

There still is an ongoing tug-of-war between beacons and Wi-Fi for in-store marketing, as I wrote about here recently (Beacons vs. Wi-Fi, the In-Store Marketing Debate).

But each is evolving and maturing. This will be a good model to monitor for The Internet of Things, since both provide developing messaging platforms for marketers, which, in turn, will provide insights into consumer behaviors and what they value.