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Walsrode App: City relies on Multi-Retailer App
Press Information
Hamburg, April 13, 2022.
New Dimension in City Marketing: Walsrode App displays retail offers location-based on smartphones
One for all, all for one: With the “Walsrode App” for the city of Walsrode, visitors and residents will soon receive individual offers from local retailers as well as information about events and attractions directly on their smartphone. The Multi-Retailer App bundles information, services and coupons from participating retailers based on location and directly at the user’s location. The implementation of the app was initiated by Gronemedia, the publisher of the Walsroder Zeitung, and the city of Walsrode. On March 31, the “Walsrode App” was launched – and is now intended to build a bridge to stationary retail.
The user parks in downtown Walsrode – and is informed that her trusted hairdresser still has appointments available. The cinema visit is already planned – and just before entering, the user’s smartphone reports: “Today two tickets for the price of one.”
These are just two of countless examples of how analogue and digital experiences merge in the “Walsrode App”. Based on position data, visitors and residents receive push notifications about offers from participating retailers as well as information about events, retailers and shops, and restaurants in their vicinity.
For a shopping experience on site with added value
Many different shops and restaurants, a wide range of goods: This is what makes city centers attractive for strolling. But the share of e-commerce is growing and making it increasingly difficult to meet customer needs in stationary retail.
One answer, also for city marketing, are digital solutions like the Multi-Retailer App from locandis. It guides visitors via smartphone to attractions and offers and can be used for playful exploration of the city center in addition to delivering coupons, messages and invitations to city festivals, for example.
The daily information and offers are maintained by the editorial staff of the Walsroder Zeitung via a separate web frontend and sent out regularly via the app. In addition, users have access to background information, opening hours and price information. “With the “Walsrode App” we create a completely new shopping experience. The app builds a bridge between the smartphone and local retail,” says initiator and Gronemedia managing director Clemens Röhrbein.
Location Based Services: Online and offline merged
“The location- or target group-specific information of this new city marketing tool reaches visitors and residents exactly where they are,” says Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof. Since 2018, the locandis managing directors and founders Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof and Stefan Brinkhoff have been active in the fields of real-time location systems, so-called Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS), and Location-Based Services. Their idea: to enable visitors to access relevant information based on location and personal preferences. The users of the app could receive the messages either via a GPS connection in the city center, via Bluetooth using the locandis locators in the shops, or directly without the influence of the location.
Interested parties can download the app for free in the Google Play Store and in the App Store. It strictly adheres to data protection regulations and a multi-level opt-in procedure protects user data from data misuse during registration in the app. But even without providing personal data, the “Walsrode App” can be used. “Users then have access to offers and deals that are released for unregistered users. With a registration, however, they secure unrestricted access to all exclusive offers,” explains Stefan Brinkhoff.
Strengthening local trade
“Our goal is for the app to develop into a joint digital customer card from Walsroders for Walsroders,” says Clemens Röhrbein. For him, the advantages of this solution are clear. “Especially for smaller retailers, the app is a good opportunity to join a kind of cashback system, which due to high costs, such as with Payback, is otherwise only interesting for large companies.” In addition, the “Walsrode App” is intended to support stationary retail: “We don’t want a discount slingshot, but a small trigger in the moment of truth that brings about the transaction, the purchase.”
Sennheiser Pilot Project with Customer App
Press Information
Hamburg, November 2, 2021.
Sennheiser Pilot Project with Customer App
Interactive dialogue and personalized approach in front of the shelf with App Clip
Customer app instead of in-store monitors: With the MySennheiser app, the audio technology manufacturer wants to personalize customer communication. The technically complex products from Sennheiser are to be explained and made interactively tangible. The app also enables a personalized dialogue with customers and only sends messages and offers to them when they are in front of a shelf with Sennheiser products.
Customers know it from online shopping: Top sellers or category-based product recommendations pop up on the start page, you receive real-time recommendations based on a search term. Quite different in stationary technology retail. Currently, manufacturers communicate with their customers here via in-store monitors, which are attached to the shelves of the products and play videos about them. “These screens run continuously and only play unpersonalized messages,” explains Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof, Managing Director of locandis. The company has developed an app for Sennheiser, a manufacturer of high-quality audio technology, which enables personalized customer communication directly in front of the shelf with Sennheiser products. The MySennheiser app is currently being tested in a pilot project.
Interactive dialogue via smartphone “highly relevant field” for Sennheiser
Following the motto “Bring your own device (BYOD)”, the app complements traditional channels with additional functions and maps them on the customer’s smartphone. In a personalized dialogue with customers, messages and offers are only sent to them when they are in front of a shelf with Sennheiser products. At the same time, additional functions, such as collecting loyalty points and a function for advertising new users by existing ones, can be introduced.
“The interactive dialogue channel via the customer’s smartphone is a highly relevant field for Sennheiser,” says Alexander Hinte, Director Retail Channel Europe at Sennheiser. “In our pilot project, we are staging a shopping experience in stationary retail that is supported by the MySennheiser app. With the help of location-based marketing and the use of app clips, the customer is enabled to inform himself directly at the shelf about the products of Sennheiser and to receive rich content with pictures, videos, promotions or interactive surveys. This is particularly interesting for cross and up-selling as well as the use of coupons, incentives and loyalty programs”, continues Hinte.
App usage without prior download with App Clip
Delivery of content without registration in the app developed by locandis is made possible by so-called app clips. “The App Clip functionality from Apple enables customers to receive information about the Sennheiser products immediately by scanning an NFC tag or QR code in addition to the push-based delivery of information at the shelf,” explains Stefan Brinkhoff, CTO and Managing Director of locandis. Registration in the app is not necessary for this. The exciting feature of the NFC solution from a user experience perspective is the simple handling: Users only have to hold their mobile phone near the chip. The content is then automatically displayed and the customer is subtly encouraged to download the app.
“This significantly facilitates the customer’s willingness to subsequently load the app, as they were already able to use the features and benefits in a preview mode,” says Brinkhoff. This function thus enables every customer with a smartphone to use the Sennheiser app without prior download. “Conversely, this function also means that the app clips represent a complete campaigning tool, which enables the delivery of differentiated content at each individual NFC tag. And completely without downloading an app”, Brinkhoff describes the advantages of this technical solution.
Reaching customers in relevant buying situations thanks to location-based marketing
locandis enables a variety of functionalities, which can be directly mapped via the app clip. These include videos, pictures or interactive elements, which bring the Sennheiser products closer to the customer. “Specifically, customers can thus be guided directly to the suitable Sennheiser headphones through an interactive product advisor. Alternatively, customer surveys can be carried out directly via the locandis App Clip campaigning, which provide valuable insights into the purchasing behavior and preferences of the Sennheiser customers”, explains Stefan Brinkhoff. This is just a small selection of the use cases that can be implemented within the framework of the app.
hagebaumarkt App: locandis Awarded for Indoor Navigation
For location-based marketing and digital customer card with the WIGGI hagebaumarkt app, the company locandis wins the Best Retail Cases Award September 2021 in the category “Retail Marketing & Services”.
The central component of the WIGGI hagebaumarkt app is indoor navigation. It allows customers to find all 60,000 products of the hagebaumarkt in Neumünster using the integrated product search. By locating customers in real time, the solution can always determine the direct path to the desired product and guides the customer with precise instructions directly to the shelf. Furthermore, product availability and daily price information can be viewed at home via the app. In addition, the WIGGI hagebaumarkt app allows a direct digital dialogue with each customer.
Customers receive information and offers directly at the shelf via the WIGGI app developed by locandis via push notification on their own smartphone. These messages are always personalized and location-based.
Location Based Services: Important information at the right place at the right time
“The core idea of location-based marketing is that people are extremely open to advertising in certain situations. Directly at the shelf, they are interested in products, backgrounds, application information. We take this into account with our project”, says Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof, Managing Director of locandis GmbH. “The smartphone is the ideal personal communication channel: in the WIGGER hagebaumarkt I can navigate to the desired product. This is the digitization of stationary retail business. Nothing more and nothing less”, continues Riekhof.
hagebaumarkt app clear winner with the jury
With the Best Retail Cases Awards, outstanding examples from retail and gastronomy are regularly awarded, in which modern technologies and services are used to the advantage of customers and companies. A knowledgeable jury and the users – i.e. the retailers themselves – choose their favorites.
“The jury members could still remember their last visit to the hardware store, where they had to search for certain products for a long time. Therefore, they saw the WIGGI hagebaumarkt app implemented by locandis as a clear winner, as it guides users in the store directly to the desired items and even provides additional information”, is the justification of the Best Retail Cases jury.
Further links
www.baumarkt-digitalisieren.de
Studies on LocationBased Marketing:
https://www.unicconsult.com/publikationen/forschungsberichte/
Hardware Store: Instore Navigation Provides Accurate Product Finding
Shopping can also be done without detours: In Neumünster, you can navigate through a hardware store using an app. This leads directly to the desired product. The so-called instore navigation is a trend that brings a multitude of advantages in the digitalization of stationary trade.
The starting signal for the project was given in July 2021, when the smartphone app “WIGGI hagebaumarkt” by C.J. Wigger KG Hagebaumarkt in Neumünster went live. In the hardware store, the visitor can expect a whole new shopping experience – one without unnecessary detours. If a customer is looking for saw blades for the jigsaw, for example, he can open his app when entering the store, enter the saw blades into the so-called Product-Finder and is then led directly to the relevant shelf by his smartphone. If the customer enters several products in the hardware store, the app calculates the shortest shopping route. Searching was yesterday, today is found – thanks to instore navigation.
The technology and idea behind it is the Hamburg company locandis.
Full article:
https://www.locandis.de/instore-navigation-mit-der-app-durch-den-baumarkt/
Recently, the PFH Private University of Göttingen published a study on instore navigation in retail:
“Instore Navigation in German Retail” (Riekhof, Grüneklee, Reutel, 2021)
Internet World Business reports on Location based Marketing, Instore Navigation and locandis
The digital trends specialized magazine “Internet World Business” now focuses on stationary trade and its increasing digitization. The magazine reports on topics such as Instore Navigation, Location based Marketing and the company locandis specialized in this. locandis-CEO Hans-Christian Riekhof comments on the successful Instore-Navigation project for a hardware store.
Location based Couponing, digital customer cards, Location based Marketing
Shopping behavior has not only changed since the establishment of e-commerce. From specialized retailers to large department stores, from outlets to huge shopping malls on the green field, the industry has been in constant motion for over 200 years.
Currently, the magazine writes, the digitization of the stationary Point of Sale (POS) is the next driver of development. Especially thanks to the smartphone and its technical possibilities. This now allows a link between classic and online retail to be realized. Customers can thus be offered new and better on-site shopping experiences. In addition to Instore Navigation, Digital Shop Windows, Virtual Fitting for digital trying on of outfits, new payment processes such as Self-Checkouts at store checkouts are mentioned. Also further possibilities like additional product information via smartphone, upselling offers etc.
Hagebaumarkt – How locandis enables better orientation in the hardware store with Beacons
Technologies like Beacons and QR codes do great things. The smartphone is the game changer, the magazine states. It shows examples of already successfully implemented digital concepts in stationary retail.
Hans-Christian Riekhof was also interviewed, who as CEO co-manages the fortunes of locandis. A Hamburg-based company that specializes in such digital technologies. He gives insight into the successful Instore-Navigation project for a Hagebaumarkt. With Beacon technology, customers of the hardware store are conveniently guided to their searched products via app.
Further links
The article in the “Internet World Business” (pdf)
Website of the company locandis
More about Location-based Marketing (LbM)
The magazine
The “Internet World Business” is a monthly B2B trade magazine based in Ulm and Munich. It is aimed at readers with a connection to digital trade. The main topics are e-commerce, online marketing, webshop systems, online payment processing, logistics, social media marketing, studies and trends around the internet, internet law and reports from the internet economy.
Locandis and InnoGreen Introduce Indoor Navigation Based on LED Lights
Innovation in in-store navigation: Searching for products in hardware or supermarkets can be very tedious. The ideal solution: enter the desired item into a search field on the app on your smartphone and conveniently navigate to it. The corresponding digital technology has already been impressively implemented by the company locandis and is constantly being developed. App-based digital customer cards with integrated product search and in-store navigation.
Practically free of charge for hardware stores
Until now, the technical effort for a comprehensive infrastructure of the necessary beacons was relatively high, explains Stefan Brinkhoff, CTO of locandis. With a now closed strategic partnership between locandis and InnoGreen, an innovative LED light manufacturer based in Heppenheim, significant relief is now available. Both companies have now presented a prototype in which these small Bluetooth transmitters are installed in InnoGreen’s LED lights. Some of the advantages: the additional effort for the installation of the beacons is eliminated, the power supply of the beacons is ensured via the lighting, very low maintenance effort. This means that a hardware store can be equipped for in-store navigation practically free of charge, says InnoGreen Managing Director Olaf Tieben. “In August of this year, we will present a first hardware store where the new system is installed.”
Effective: Combine in-store navigation with location-based marketing
From a business and marketing perspective, in-store navigation is attractive. Especially for retailers with complex assortments and areas from approx. 3000 sqm. locandis customer projects demonstrate the resulting additional sales with more relaxed, longer staying customers. “We expect that the locandis in-store navigation based on InnoGreen lights will pay for itself and be self-supporting from the second year onwards”, says Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof. The CEO of locandis also points to the lucrative combination of in-store navigation with location-based marketing campaigns: “This is an important revenue driver that further improves the business balance sheet.”
Links:
Here you can learn more about the topic of Location Based Marketing
Studies on the topic:
– Location-based Marketing: The willingness to pay for push messages on the customer’s smartphone
– The use of traditional and digital customer cards in retail, system catering and tourism
Location Based Marketing: Impressive Live Demo in Hagebaumarkt
Personalized advertising messages on the customer’s smartphone, directly on the shelf in the store: Location Based Marketing (LBM) is one of the big trends in marketing, says Hans-Christian Riekhof, marketing professor at PFH Private University of Göttingen. The advantages are clear to Riekhof: “With Location Based Marketing, stationary retail in particular reaches its customers where they are particularly receptive to advertising. At the shelf, with the intention to buy, the customer is interested in the product and its applications. Location-based campaigns delivered to the smartphone have a very high advertising effectiveness.”
Christian Wigger, owner of several Hagebaumarkt stores in the Neumünster area, was able to convince himself of the effectiveness and reliable functioning of the innovative technology during an impressive live demonstration of a Location Based Marketing action. Stefan Brinkhoff, managing partner of locandis GmbH from Hamburg, had prepared the demo in a Hagebaumarkt in Neumünster with his team. Wigger had invited several entrepreneur colleagues from the Hagebau environment to participate in this event. The participants installed the locandis app on their smartphone. In the hardware store, personalized campaigns were then delivered to them directly at the shelf and at action placements.
Up to 80 percent of customers can be reached – but they need to be introduced to the topic
Wigger was enthusiastic and is now planning a real test phase. “It is impressive how reliably the Beacon technology works in combination with the app today and how appealing the campaigns were implemented”, Christian Wigger summarizes. “We will definitely deal with it and aim for a real test over 12 months.” The indoor navigation will follow in the second step, which will greatly simplify the product search in the hardware store.
According to locandis CEO Stefan Brinkhoff, the sales effect of LBM is almost always underestimated. “In our experience, up to 80 percent of customers can be reached.” However, customers need to be introduced to the topic and explained the benefits if they are to activate Bluetooth and give permission to send coupons and other benefits.
“Building a direct dialogue with my customers who are currently in my store with a digital customer card as an app is the future of stationary retail”, says Professor Riekhof.
Photo: pexels.com
Pricing at Lidl: Discount store attracts with app as digital customer card
Lidl is currently testing digital customer cards, with which coupons can be delivered directly to the mobile phone. In Berlin and Brandenburg, customers can use the new customer loyalty app “Lidl Plus”. With this, they receive special offers and features such as discount coupons, digital receipts or the flyer ready for every purchase. It is noteworthy that the coupons are not delivered location-based, says pricing expert Hans-Christian Riekhof.
The free app, available from the Apple and Google app stores, serves as a digital customer card. Lidl has come up with a number of “exclusive benefits” for users. For example, a 5-euro welcome coupon, new digital discount coupons for selected products and savings benefits with the so-called “Lidl Plus crackers”. Also scratch cards with further coupons and price advantages with partners, e.g. at Lidl-Photos, Lidl-Travels, FlixBus and regional, activate providers in the app.
In return, the discount giant receives valuable customer data. Lidl can thus compensate for the major disadvantage of stationary compared to online trading, where it is common to collect and evaluate customer data. Based on customer profiles created from this, the app can then make offers to the customer that Lidl assumes the customer needs at this time.
With the customer data, Lidl sends suitable offers to the app users
According to Lidl, customers do not see different prices based on their data. However, there is indeed a price difference in favor of the app users – compared to customers who do not use the app.
With the digital customer cards, Lidl is faster than e.g. Aldi, the main rival, says Hans Christian Riekhof. The pricing expert finds it interesting that the app is advertised on various local channels – here the example Out Of Home. Even more noteworthy is that the coupons are not delivered location-based. “You could also deliver the push notifications in front of the store, in the store and maybe even directly on the shelf. This would significantly increase the relevance – measured by opening and redemption rates – according to our project experience. Maybe this will come in the second expansion stage”, says Riekhof.
Which campaigns promise particular success can be read in the News from locandis.
By the way, the project of the digital customer card, which is currently running in around 250 Lidl markets in the pilot area Berlin and Brandenburg, is planned to be extended to all of Germany during the year 2020.
Note:
Also read our empirical Study on Digital Customer Cards in retail, system catering and tourism (Riekhof/Brinkhoff 2018).
Further links:
Lidl:
https://unternehmen.lidl.de/pressreleases/190612_lidl-plus
Advertising and Selling:
https://www.wuv.de/marketing/lidl_bringt_digitale_kundenkarte_als_app
Photo at the top: Lidl Germany
Photo: UNICconsult Strategy Development GmbH