Get ready to sense the CEM future

The Internet of Things is bringing all new possibilities to retail and customer experience management. Sensor installation in stores and on newer smartphones communicates steady streams of rich information from customer to retailer and vice versa. This trend is growing very quickly. As reported in TechCrunch recently: Apple projects 250 million of their iBeacon devices in the world by the end of 2014. Others will certainly get into the game.

Not as New as You’d Think

This story is even bigger than those 250 million purpose-built devices just now coming into the market:

“…every iOS device since the iPhone 4s and iPad 3^rd gen is already capable of being either an iBeacon receiver or transmitter, as long as it’s properly configured.”

This will have enormous implications for the retail marketplace. The amount of data collected up until now has been limited mostly to very rough geolocation technology that doesn’t work well indoors.

Relevance Like Never Before

Suddenly, we have access to far more granular data on where and when customers move, and what catches their attention. We know with high accuracy when to deliver just the right message, having just the right context, and through the ideal channel. This is the marketer’s dream, but only if their tools and techniques can keep up with the opportunity this presents.

A New Way to Look at Loyalty

This also presents a remarkable opportunity for a loyalty platform. The permissioning that loyalty offers means that customer interactions are welcome, and even more relevant based on loyalty tiers and better segmentation data.

This will be a fascinating trend to watch as retailers retool to take full advantage of new levels of customer interaction.

To learn more, catch TIBCO Loyalty Lab’s webinar, Top 10 Marketing Trends for 2014.