Geofencing lets you set up a virtual boundary around a specific location to send personalized notifications to users when they enter or exit a particular area. While there are several use cases for this technology, it is primarily used for tracking and marketing. Over the years, businesses across various industries have used geofencing to secure a massive number of local audiences and get a competitive advantage in the market.
How Does Geofencing Work?
The geofencing technology uses the location of people or objects to work. When people enter a geofenced area, their smartphone uses one of the available technologies to trigger a particular event. Such events can be personalized push notifications or informational messages. Businesses use white label geofencing tactics to send personalized ads or deals to their target audience.
You can set up a geofencing system based on different different technologies. The most commonly used technologies in geofencing are GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth® LE, RFID, and equipment in the form of tags or beacons. You may want to use a combination of mobile data, GPS, and Wi-Fi or Bluetooth® LE. This combination offers a geofencing accuracy of 300-650 ft. Once the virtual fences are set, businesses can decide what action to trigger when someone enters or exits the selected boundary.
How Various Industries Are Using Geofences?
Various industries use geofencing differently as per their needs. Here are examples of how some of those industries use geofencing to their advantage.
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Retail Industry:
In the retail industry, geofencing is primarily used for organizing marketing campaigns more efficiently. With a geofencing marketing strategy, you can delimit zones in the store and send targeted messages to customers. These messages often contain details about products or services, deals, events, discounts, sales, or promotions.
If you run a retail business and want to start an ad campaign about the sale you are having at your store, you can take the help of geofencing. Set up a geofence around your store and send personalized messages about the sale to whoever enters the virtual boundary.
Apart from using this technology in marketing, retail businesses also use geofencing to get feedback from customers or to asses their behavior. This technology helps the stores to boost sales and attract new customers.
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Shopping Malls:
The purpose of using geofencing push notifications in a shopping mall is to advertise an event or business. Usually, the shopping mall geofencing system targets certain visitors and sends them custom notifications or coupons, which can be used immediately during their stay in the mall.
The system also offers additional features, such as:
- Audit staff activities within the shopping mall zones
- Improving the safety and security of visitors and staff
- Simplifying the buying process by enabling navigation and product search tools
Next time you visit a mall, pay attention to the push messages and app notifications you receive.
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Manufacturing Industry:
Geofencing is also used widely within the production process because of the high accuracy offered by the technology. The major use cases of geofencing in the manufacturing industry are as follows:
- Monitoring zones with limited access
- Improving the safety of the staff
- Spotting assets with zones
- Having better control over working hours
Geofencing allows manufacturers to organize their operations better and get the best out of their staff.
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Logistics Industry:
In the logistics and warehousing industry, geofencing is used to locate various assets. The system helps find the location of vehicles, equipment, and other things and reports where they are located in a particular area.
The geofencing technology also helps notify the warehouse staff every time a vehicle arrives at the location for loading or unloading. Moreover, by setting up alarms for assets being moved out of the facility, businesses can prevent thefts and spot intruders.
Wrapping it up
As more businesses realize the potential of geofencing, we may see a lot more use of this technology across various industries. While it already provides high accuracy, imagine how efficient geofencing may get with the growing innovations and developments in the world of technology.