A Holiday-Shopping Test Finds Beacon-Based Mobile Offers Drive up Traffic Counts

Marketing campaigns delivered to shoppers’ smart phones have long been seen as a promising way to drive both in-store traffic and mobile payments, and during the recent holiday season one company ran a test to find out just what kind of results retailers could expect.

Swirl Networks Inc., a 6-year-old Boston-based startup that provides a platform for campaigns sent via Bluetooth low energy from in-store beacons, looked at results for more than 1 million beacon transmissions both in and near stores in November and December. The test involved what the company says were “thousands” of store locations belonging to national chains. The test also compared results for consumers who received beacon messages with outcomes for those who did not.

This week, Swirl released some of the results of this comparison. Much of this had to do with increases in foot traffic. A specialty retailer inside a mall, for example, found a 41% rise in average basket size and a 36% increase in its mall-to-store traffic conversion. Another mall merchant, also a specialty retailer, saw a 13% jump in its mall-to-store conversion rate. An apparel manufacturer with an outlet store experienced a 7% increase in traffic, according to Swirl.

Messages were beamed to consumers’ mobile phones from a variety of beacons as well as payment terminals from VeriFone Systems Inc., according to Swirl’s announcement.

“These holiday program results demonstrate just how powerful this technology really is and how quickly it is scaling in the marketplace,” said Hilmi Ozguc, Swirl’s founder and chief executive, in a statement. “We are excited to be working with some of the nation’s top retailers as they expand their beacon-marketing programs to more public rollouts in 2017. The in-store beacon marketing ecosystem is quietly but steadily growing in scale.”

Swirl did not name the merchants involved in the tests, but among its clients are national and regional chains such as Lord & Taylor, Timberland, and Urban Outfitters. The company has raised a total of $32 million in venture funding from investors including Simon Venture Group, an arm of mall developer Simon, and Twitter Ventures.