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Marsh Supermarkets and inMarket Launching First iBeacon Platform for Apple's Upcoming Watch

Monday January 12, 2015 7:11 am PST by Kelly Hodgkins
Marsh Supermarkets and inMarket today are announcing the launch of a new iBeacon platform throughout Marsh's 75 supermarket locations that will enable Apple Watch users to receive interactive alerts and other content on their devices based on their proximity to Marsh's beacons. The program is the first integration of iBeacon technology with Apple's wearable product, which is expected to launch to the public in the next several months.
"iBeacons have created new ways to connect with mobile shoppers in the store, and inMarket allows us to reach many of our shoppers through the apps they love and use everyday," said Amit Bhardwaj, Senior Director of Customer Loyalty, Marsh Supermarkets. "Now with wearable integration, shoppers who use Apple Watch will enjoy the same digitally-augmented, real-world shopping experience."
Marsh and inMarket are working together to develop a platform that will initially include Marsh's own app and inMarket's List Ease app, with other apps likely to quickly follow. As envisioned, inMarket's beacons in Marsh stores will be able to trigger alerts such as shopping lists, ads, and other content for customers who use Marsh's mobile app or one of the apps that incorporate inMarket's Proximity SDK.

Customers who opt into the program could receive offers, recipes, and other alerts on their mobile devices as they walk through the grocery store, and the system will automatically extend to the Apple Watch on day one as the apps are updated to add support for the device.


Marsh may be the first to extend Apple's iBeacon capabilities to the Apple Watch, but it isn't the first to adopt the location-based technology. Retailer Macy's, Virgin Atlantic airlines and Major League Baseball are among the early adopters that rolled out iBeacons in their respective venues.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 5
Tags: Marsh Supermarkets, inMarket, iBeacons
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
[ 59 comments ]


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kdarling
55 months ago
I'm imagining a grocery store where suddenly everyone stops pushing their carts, checks their watch to see what ad they just got, then all start moving again.

Would've made a great Outer Limits episode decades ago.

Or maybe just a scene in The Stepford Wives.
Rating: 17 Votes
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FieldingMellish
55 months ago
Pop up ads wherever we walk now.
Rating: 8 Votes
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brucerb
55 months ago
Who?

For the 95% of you who, like me, had never heard of Marsh Supermarkets, looks like it's a chain in Ohio and Indiana only.
Rating: 6 Votes
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JAQ
55 months ago

If you chose to opt-in.

So only for masochists, idiots, and compulsive first-adopters then.
Rating: 6 Votes
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Boatboy24
55 months ago
"Bananas are on your shopping list and you just walked past them. Would you like to turn around, or remove them from your list? Monitoring sensors indicate your are very low in potassium. It is recommended that you turn around."
Rating: 4 Votes
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IJ Reilly
55 months ago

Convenience. :)


I'm not seeing the convenience of having my phone and watch marketing to me while I shop, but I can sure see the potential for annoyance.

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I think it's very compelling to be alerted as I approach something on my shopping list. It's also nice to be alerted if a similar item is on sale or there is a coupon for it. Remember this is all opt-in so saying it has no value is like saying there is no value in discounts or there is no value for the most knowledgable store employee that knows where everything you need is.


Not to me, sorry. The grocery stores (and others) are already merchandising with their loyalty programs that we are more or less forced to use, or pay more for virtually everything. If this becomes just another avenue for this kind of consumer abuse then I am not for it.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Rogifan
55 months ago
The operative word here being "opt-in".
Rating: 3 Votes
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Plutonius
55 months ago
It makes sense to have iBeacon to help you navigate a marsh :D.
Rating: 2 Votes
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arobert3434
55 months ago
Sad

Isn't it sad that the first use of this technology in a grocery store is NOT to help customers find things but to blast them with ads?

Which even seems contrary to the interests of the store itself. With guidance, you can attract more customers to your store, whereas showing ads, besides being annoying, is "preaching to the converted" since the customer is obviously already in the store anyway to buy things.

And for pete's sake, if you are trying to use the localization data to show them an ad for a product they are standing next to, why not just put up a sign!

Sheesh.
Rating: 2 Votes
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nick42983
55 months ago
Stories like this continue to dampen my enthusiasm for the Apple Watch. I wonder how early on they transitioned from thinking about it as cool tech that'll enhance people's lives to cool tech that'll serve as an ideal platform for directly marketing crap to people. Maybe I'm just naive and its been that way all along.
Rating: 2 Votes

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