The Physical Cookie is a device that could bring targeted digital marketing capabilities to malls and shopping centres worldwide.
In the face of ever more advanced e-commerce algorithms, the smartest bricks-and-mortar outlets are borrowing from their online counterparts to create hybrid shopping experiences that incorporate the best of both worlds.
Finland-based real-estate investment company Sponda has developed the Physical Cookie, a device that can bring targeted digital marketing capabilities – the kind readily available to online retailers – to city malls and shopping centres. It brings online cookie functionalities to the real world, enabling businesses to collect and use data about a consumer’s shopping habits. The company describes the innovation as a ‘disruptive loyalty programme for a shopping mall’, explaining that ‘instead of identifying the loyal customer at the end of the shopping process (purchase), the system identifies loyal customers as they enter the shopping mall’.
The device is a simple RFID key fob — costing 0.17 cents to produce — that the customer places in their pocket or attaches to their clothes. It doesn’t need to be registered or retain personal data, instead focusing solely on the customer’s time spent in stores.
The Physical Cookie collects data about the customer as they shop, monitoring their behaviour by tracking which displays they are lingering by, and communicating its findings with participating stores via electronic readers.
The system learns from the usage data and creates personalized messages, which are displayed to the consumer on screens in store in real time. Instead of annoying push notifications, the shopping environment reacts to the shopper, offering more relevant messages and personalized offers.
Sponda, in collaboration with ad agency TBWA\Helskinki, undertook a successful large-scale trial of the Physical Cookie in one of Helsinki’s busiest malls, where 14,000 shoppers carried the device and were rewarded with targeted deals over a four-month period. The Physical Cookies were handed out at random to everyone who entered the mall. Sponda reported that customers with Physical Cookies spent 21.7 per cent more time in stores than those without them, and they also claimed to be able to guide 14.5 per cent more customers from the busiest ground floor to the mall’s second floor via targeted, personalized electronic messaging. Throughout the trial, retailers benefited from real-time analytics, enabling them to optimize floor space and understand which displays were proving the most popular in their store.
The system has many advantages over similar technologies, such as the iBeacons used in the Dharavi slum. First, it doesn’t inconvenience the shopper by asking them to turn on their Bluetooth and drain their phone’s battery. Once it’s attached to their keys or placed in their pocket, the customer can forget all about it. It also avoids overloading the shopper with information. Rather than spamming multiple alerts to their phone as they walk through the mall, the Physical Cookie causes the physical retail environment to react around them, displaying dynamic ads in response to their activity. It’s both less obtrusive and requires less action on the part of the shopper.
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Website: www.physicalcookie.com
Contact: juha-matti.raunio@tbwa.fi
Company name: Sponda
Innovation name: Physical Cookie
Country: Finland
Industries: Marketing & advertising / Retail & e-commerce / Smart cities