New-Tech Europe Digital Magazine | Feb 2016

How ultra-low power Bluetooth Smart radios are revolutionizing shopping for customers and retailers

Mr. Mark de Clercq, Dialog Semiconductor

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luetooth-enabled smartphones and tablets are now the

services include indoor navigation, asset tracking and mobile payments. If they decide to engage with the technology, consumers can be confident that they don’t miss a shopping opportunity. And they can choose whether to have their phones switched on, as well as whether to run the apps that respond to the electronic messages retailers push at them. Consumers must have Bluetooth switched on and must allow “push’ messages, so they remain in control. The retailers benefit from a low cost, context-aware way to deliver sales offers. Perhaps more importantly, they are able to gather and analyze data about customer journeys - physical journeys through their stores and commercial journeys that capture buying habits. When that data becomes available for thousands of customers, the information becomes very powerful - this is the

essence of “big data”. So what’s the technology that underpins this revolution? In almost every instance, it’s Bluetooth Low Energy, often referred to as “Bluetooth Smart”. The same technology is also found in proximity tags that simply send an alert to your smartphone or other receiver when you come within range. Bluetooth Smart - why it’s the smart choice for beacons Bluetooth has been with us for a few decades now but what is now called “Classic Bluetooth” is too power- hungry for beacon applications, which need to operate for months, if not years, on a single coin cell battery if they are to offer the required “place and forget” deployment capability. Bluetooth Smart radios are built into battery-powered, stand-alone beacons that broadcast advertising messages to shoppers as they come

constant companions ofmany shoppers, including those that shop regularly in retail malls. As it’s now possible to track shoppers within malls and within individual stores using Bluetooth electronic beacons, this has created a golden opportunity for retailers to deliver sales messages – advertising to them when they’re most likely to be responsive. As one provider of this new shopping technology words its own sales pitch: “Target your customers with personalized recommendations - in real-time, at the perfect moment to encourage purchase.” This is one of the most exciting of several new location-based services enabled by the latest Bluetooth technology and the market for such services is expected to grow from $8.12 billion in 2014 to nearly $40 billion by 2019, according to analyst MarketsandMarkets. Other

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