Alex and Ani using store-specific mobile marketing

Boston--Jewelry brand Alex and Ani is now utilizing technology that delivers store-specific mobile marketing to customers when they are shopping in the brand’s stores, ranging from offers and promotions to “thank you” messages.

The technology is Swirl Networks’ iBeacon marketing platform provider, an indoor positioning system for Apple and Android smartphones that is able to recognize micro-location signals.

Simply put, when a customer walks into an Alex and Ani store, iBeacon picks up signals being broadcast by Swirl’s SecureCast technology in the stores and sends smartphone users push notifications (automatic messages) on offers specific to their location.

The messages can be personalized and contextual, ranging from thanking a customer when they walk in the store’s entrance to helping them make a purchase in a specific store department.

In the case of Alex and Ani, smartphone users must have the Swirl application to receive the messages but, in the future, the technology will be added to a retailer’s own mobile app or relevant third-party apps, such as those relating to shopping or lifestyle.

Alex and Ani has deployed the technology in more than 40 of its stores and plans to expand it to authorized retailers, including department stores, the brand said.

“Utilizing Swirl’s marketing platform we can deliver highly targeted content to consumers precisely when they are most engaged and primed to spend--while they are shopping in our stores,” said Ryan Bonifacino, vice president of digital strategy for Alex and Ani.

Alex and Ani’s pilot run with iBeacon in 2013 yielded impressive results. More than 75 percent of shoppers engaged with the content delivered to them while they shopped, the brand said.

“We’re extremely excited about the future possibilities for this technology. It’s the strategic and foundational investments like iBeacon that have enabled Alex and Ani to grow our customer-centric omni-channel strategy at record pace,” Bonifacino said.