Marketing Product Aims to Save Brick-and-Mortar Stores by Integrating Digital Shopping Elements Into In-Store Experience
Opnia, a Minneapolis-based ad tech company, has introduced Advos, an Internet of Things (IoT) platform for physical stores trying to adapt to the changing retail landscape. Advos seeks to bring the convenience and efficiency of the online shopping experience to physical retail stores. This product gives customers a more personalized shopping experience while providing retailers with precise, accurate data to inform their business decisions.
"With Advos, retail has become a far richer and interactive experience," said Brook Oldre, co-founder, Opnia. "When customers are shopping in cosmetics or electronics, vendors can reach their customers in-real time as they're making purchasing decisions, offering coupons, user reviews or relevant contextual information."
This pioneering new platform works through iBeacon technology, allowing retailers using Advos to provide a customized data-driven experience to their guests shopping in their stores. With over half of the top 100 retailers in the U.S. set to test iBeacons in the coming year, Advos is positioned to become a leading player in the digital evolution of physical retail.
As an omni-channel platform, Advos benefits both retailers and their customers. It helps retailers by taking the analytic and re-targeting methods of ecommerce and applying them to brick-and-mortar locations. Through iBeacons and mobile apps, Advos allows retailers to track customer habits and traffic within physical stores and to quickly use the data to enhance sales. It also allows for easy analysis of in-store marketing, effectiveness of displays, positioning of end caps and sales information from locations throughout a store.
On the consumer side, Advos improves in-store shopping by tailoring the experience to a shopper's preferences and buying habits. While using a mobile app powered by Advos for participating retailers, customers can receive coupons for the items they're currently looking at, product reviews, suggestions and information on other sizes or colors while shopping in the store. Advos also improves customer service by quickly connecting customers and nearby sales associates with the touch of a button who are then incentivized to respond to every request.
Opnia is the brainchild of Brook Oldre, Brandon Johnson and Brett Loney, who previously worked on the revolutionary social coupon app "Cartwheel by Target." Partnering with Paul Taunton, CEO of Business Impact Group (BIG), the trio founded Opnia with a focus on social media advertising, mobile apps and cloud-based analytics.