Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield, UK is to use iBeacon technology to gamify a shopping event, with brands providing offers, discounts, pampering freebies and prize giveaways. Participating retailers include Krispy Kreme, Hotel Chocolat, Cath Kidston and House of Fraser.

To test the service, Meadowhall is placing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons throughout the centre for its Ladies’ Night event on May 29.

Shoppers who have downloaded the iBeacon-compatible app will receive a notification on their smartphone whenever they come into range of a beacon. When they tap the notification, it will activate the offer related to that particular ‘hotspot’, ready for redemption at the participating retail store.

“As a centre, we have spent time watching and understanding the growth of digital technology, and listening to our customers to understand what they want and expect from it,” says Richard Pinfold, marketing director at Meadowhall.

“iBeacon is a very exciting marketing concept, allowing us to connect with customers and deliver appropriate offers and discounts dependent on their location. We are developing the app to work with key events we host for our shoppers, and our upcoming Ladies’ Night event provides us with the perfect opportunity to launch this new platform.

“We will be closely monitoring our customers’ response to the trial to best manage the frequency and targeting of messages, and the hotspot locations as a result.”

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