Teradata and Localz partner up on proximity marketing tech

Teradata has struck an alliance with Localz to bring the boutique microlocation consultancy’s location-based capabilities into its core marketing platform.

Under the partnership, the data and analytics vendor’s Integrated Marketing Cloud solutions has been combined with Localz’s micro-location technology solution to deliver real-time personalised content direct to a customer’s mobile device, based on their exact physical location.

As well as supporting the iBeacon standard and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons, which are gaining ground in the retail space, Localz works with proximity-based technologies such as Wi-Fi, GPS, QR codes and Near Field Communication (NFC). The technology can also be used to track campaign assets and carry out mobile payments.

Localz, which is less than a year-old, is already working with UK retail giant, John Lewis, to provide beacon and other location-based technologies for improving customer engagement after winning the retailer’s JLAB technology incubator competition.

Teradata area director for the Australian Marketing Applications team, Simon Bowker, said partnering with Localz offers the vendor an opportunity to help its customers gain a more detailed insight into a customer’s journey through the sales cycle.

“Our world is no longer divided into online and offline and Localz enables us to capture data on customer behaviour in the real world, and provide customers with a seamless experience,” Bowker said.

“It’s a great partnership for our customers and an example of our strategy to drive growth of our business in the Australian market.”

Bowker told CMO that for many organisations, having proximity-based technologies in place is only one part of the equation. The real value is in making real-time decisions on the types of content or information pushed to those customers, in order to be more relevant, he claimed.

“This technology [from Localz] enables us to do in the physical world what people have been doing for many years online, which is tracking people on the Web going to certain sections of a website, exhibiting certain behaviours, or going through a combination of actions in way that then allows us to prompt through remarketing or event-based marketing,” he said.

“The real value we believe is when you’re able to spot the event, similar to what people do in the digital world, and are then able to make a decision. It’s all very well saying there’s someone walking past an aisle or tapping an offer, but the reality is many are just pushing out generic messages, offers and invitations.”

Teradata platform brings data sets together in order for marketers to know everything about that anonymised person, Bowker said.

“We know where they have been, every channel they have surfed, programs they’ve been part of, things they’ve purchased and priorities we’ve placed on different products. Using all those dimensions of information, marketers can then look at what they should do with that person in real-time,” he said.

“We have the technology that does that decision-making in real time, Localz has the technology that brings a new channel to that decision making engine. And that new channel is the real world.”

While there are no customers signed up as yet for the joint offering, Bowker said target markets include the retail, leisure and entertainment industries as well as airlines.

Localz commercial director and co-founder, Tim Andrew, said partnering with Teradata will give businesses the ability to incorporate new microlocation technologies into their existing marketing strategy to drive more relevant communications.

“We’re excited to be adding a new dimension to Teradata’s proven, world-class marketing platform,” Andrew said.

Read more: How beacons and nearables are giving marketers new customer know-how
Chatswood Chase reveals customer insights from iBeacon trial

Beacons are quickly gaining popularity with retailers globally thanks to their ability to pinpoint and target customers with relevant messaging in a physical location via apps or passes on their mobile device. Earlier this week, rival marketing cloud provider, Adobe announced it could now also push customised messages to beacons through new in-app messaging capabilities in its Mobile Services platform.

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