Independent grocer drawn to beacons

Quincy, Ill. – In the latest sign that beacons are becoming a mainstream in-store technology, at least one independent grocery chain is rolling them out. County Market, a division of Quincy, Illinois-based Niemann Foods, has implemented the Birdzi platform in all of its stores to provide personalized digital savings and increased customer engagement for its shoppers.



After successfully testing the platform in its Springfield, Illinois store, County Market has deployed the myCountyMarket application in a total of 44 stores. County Market is using Birdzi’s location analytics platform to deliver personalized offers, location-specific coupons, in-store maps, sharable shopping lists and more to shoppers.



Initial results have been positive, as County Market has seen 15%-20% growth week over week in shopper engagement, and hundreds of new downloads each day. The Birdzi platform is delivering thousands of precision-targeted, contextually relevant offers each week to County Market Shoppers.



The myCountyMarket app utilizes Birdzi’s beacon technology to enhance customer engagement in the store. The in-store beacons use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to deliver opt-in location-based services for app users.



The beacon-delivered offers are relevant to each shopper, based on his or her purchase history with County Market’s loyalty program. The Birdzi platform features an in-store map that helps shoppers to easily locate products in the store. Shoppers can create and share shopping lists with friends and sort shopping lists by aisle and map out their grocery trip in order to save valuable time in the store.



“The Birdzi application relies on each shopper’s purchase history, so we are able to deliver highly personalized offers via beacons,” said Nathaniel Jones, electronic marketing manager, Niemann Foods. “It’s an intelligent use of beacons that leverages the power of this technology in new and exciting ways and ensures that we aren’t just ‘spamming’ our customers with messages. It’s important that the shopper receives value and relevancy with every notification.”



County Market will deploy additional features of the Birdzi platform in the coming weeks. The grocer will launch a shopper portal and personalized ad flyers later this month, allowing County Market to deliver personalized offers via the web and email, in order to reach more shoppers.



The myCountyMarket app is available for both Android and Apple devices.