NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cue, the online retail marketing platform from Cue Connect that keeps shoppers and retailers connected across the entire path to purchase, today announced an industry-first intention-based proximity marketing capability. Cue’s Smart Alerts service integrates the Cue online retail marketing platform with a retailer’s mobile application and wireless iBeacons deployed at physical store locations, making it possible for retailers to notify nearby shoppers about availability or special offers on the specific items that they have previously indicated purchase intent.
Cue’s approach improves on the limited data used by most retail marketing tools today by providing retailers with new insight on the specific items that shoppers have shown interest in. Through highly timely and relevant shopper alerts, Cue squarely addresses the challenges presented by the increased fragmentation of retailers’ online and physical presence. Now, a shopper’s path to purchase can begin in a retailer’s online world and stay seamlessly connected around specific items of interest all the way through to their local retail store.
This breakthrough in proximity marketing is initially being rolled-out with MadeClose, an online marketplace that sells American-made products from local businesses around the country. Through the integration of Cue Connect technology with the MadeClose mobile app, retailers and shoppers will be able to stay connected in an entirely new way, starting with some of the over 1,000 MadeClose merchants with physical retail locations.
Through Cue, shoppers share or save their favorite items while they shop, in a way that adds immense value to retailers by providing them with an understanding of how shoppers are interacting with specific products. Cue captures purchase intent signaled by these conscious shopper actions for the retailer, while prompting, storing and organizing items for the shopper to eliminate common pains that go along with shopping. Cue enables retailers to stay connected to shoppers in relation to those specific items, delivering personalized offers, price alerts, expanded product information and other marketing messages along the entire path to purchase – now including wireless alerts when within proximity of a physical store location. Merchants implementing Cue provide better experiences for their customers and realize a number of better business outcomes, including higher conversion rates, increased site and store traffic and improved profitability.
"The powerful Cue platform is providing shoppers and merchants with an exclusive connected commerce experience, regardless of whether they are online or in a physical store location," said Berkley Bowen, CEO of Cue Connect. "According to a survey conducted by Crowdtap, 68 percent of survey participants ranked recommendations from friends and family on social media as the biggest influencer for holiday shopping. The retail industry currently needs more and more effective ways to connect their online and physical store experiences on a mass scale. Cue provides seamless integration between these two largely disconnected worlds using the most powerful of retail value drivers – knowing exactly which items a shopper is interested in buying as they enter the store.”
"By integrating Cue into MadeClose.com, the MadeClose app and into the stores of companies on MadeClose, we are able to maintain quality engagement with current customers and reach new customers in an organic and authentic way," said David Mehlman, Co-Founder and CEO of MadeClose. "The intention-based proximity marketing capabilities of Cue are a natural fit for the companies and products we represent because our customers want and expect a personal, connected shopping experience both online and in-store. Cue is an invaluable tool for us as we aim to connect the world to authentic, quality products and our merchants are better able to personally connect to shoppers at their truly unique, local retail locations.”
“We welcome the opportunity to be at the forefront of a retail technology revolution that helps level the playing field for the thousands of local companies nationwide that provide unique, locally made goods,” said Justin Zak, Director of Sales at Alchemy Goods. “MadeClose and Cue are providing us with powerful new ways to connect us to new customers both near and far, as well as for those who already know us, and may be right in our neighborhood.”
The MadeClose IOS mobile app for iPhones and iPads is now available to enhance shoppers mobile experience with MadeClose, including Cue Smart Alerts. Download it at the App Store.
About Cue
Cue is the world-class, highly scalable online retail marketing platform from Cue Connect that keeps shoppers and retailers connected across the entire path to purchase. Through Cue, retailers gain new shopper intelligence and unlock new value from the existing shopper behavior of sharing and saving items they like while they shop. Cue enables better experiences for the shopper and a number of better business outcomes for the retailer, including higher satisfaction levels, increased site traffic, improved conversion rates, larger basket size and average order value. Cue is built to integrate into all available web, mobile web, and mobile app retail platforms with no engineering required. For more information, please visit www.cueconnect.com.
