Ford To Pilot Beacon Technology At Their Stores

Ford is piloting a new program meant to help sell vehicles to consumers using their smartphones. Ford is doing so using a very non-traditional method of advertising, beacons. Essentially customers come onto a Ford lot and vehicles will have small beacon-beaming units installed on them. They are battery powered and transmit their signal via a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) connection. When a consumer walks by a vehicle, it will beam out a short message about a specific feature of the vehicle, such as the new door handles or LED lights, depending of where they walk by. However, none of this is possible without the right apps.

Consumers have to have a certain type of app on their phone. That app would have to be active and be pushing notifications. When this occurs, consumers are able to find out specific features of a new Ford and could do so even after hours when the dealership is closed and they are strolling by. There is speculation Ford could partners with third party partner for usage of the app, such as TrueCar or Edmunds. Ford could also partner with Shopkick, a company that has been sending out shopper offer beacons at Macy’s department store since 2013. What this new initiative gives to customers is a chance to learn about vehicle specifications and features if they aren’t ready to engage a salesperson.

Ford representative Elizabeth Weigandt spoke to Edmunds about how the beacon technology works. Weigandt explained, “When visiting a dealership, customers would first opt-in to the dealer’s free in-store Wi-Fi system, then, when they approach vehicles that are fitted with beacons, they will receive educational push notifications on various product features and technologies selected by the dealer.”

A remaining question is how to best use the beacons. Should they be hidden so that consumers have educational notifications pop-up as a surprise? Would it be better if car shoppers could see the beacons and have a more active role in the communication between their phone and the beacon? As Akshay Anand, an analyst with Kelly Blue Book noted, the beacons let consumers pick their pace.

Anand explained, “It lets me shop at my own pace, and I think that’s the way that dealerships have to go now. People may not want to work with a salesperson right away, and that’s a great alternative.” Ford plans to pilot the beacons at five Ford and three Lincoln dealerships during mid2015.

What kind of potential do you see for the beacon technology at dealerships? Do you think that consumers will want push notifications telling them more about vehicles? How do you think sales people will be able to team up with the beacon to tell consumers about the vehicles?