Technology has transformed our everyday life and expectations. We now live in a world of instant information.  Businesses are now utilizing new technologies to advertise and improve the experience customers have with their brands. Proximity data is quickly becoming a requirement for doing business in the modern age because customers like the experience this data can provide. But merely having location and proximity data does not translate to automatic success. This information should be used so that your customers engage with your business and ultimately improve your bottom line.

Here are a few examples of brands that have used proximity data to their advantage.

Barneys New York tailors shopping recommendations and content

The luxury department store Barneys digitized its newly-opened flagship in Manhattan, implementing a full beacon network and equipping its employees with iPads to provide a more personalized shopping experience.

Through Barnes collection of proximity date, customers who use the Barneys mobile app will now be prompted to permit notifications and allow Barneys to use their location to determine their proximity to one of its retail locations. Those who opt in will start receiving editorial content from Barneys’ in-house magazine, and customers who are shopping in-store will receive targeted notifications or recommendations based on their previous shopping histories.

In addition to promoting Barneys stores and the products sold in them, the mobile app offers recommendations to restaurants nearby and other attractions in the neighborhood, making it feel less like an advertisement and more like a local guide.

Swirl and AccuWeather rethink weather forecasts

In May of this year, Swirl and AccuWeather announced a partnership that would see the mobile location-tracking platform and the weather company join forces to “[bring] the most advanced, real-time weather targeting capabilities to indoor mobile location marketing.” Brands using the Swirl platform will now have access to AccuWeather’s weather data and can use that data to offer specific in-store experiences based off of a customer’s local weather conditions. Swirl’s platform utilizes some different proximity and location data technologies, including beacons, WiFi, and Visible Light Communications to ascertain a user’s exact position within a store and send messages accordingly.

For example, during a heatwave, a clothing retailer could send notifications to shoppers telling them where the swimsuits, shorts and other warm-weather apparel is located — or send discounts to those already busy browsing the shelves. Restaurants could send notifications to people nearby warning of rain showers and offer discounts to help them beat the bad weather. All in all, there is a slew of ways in which brick-and-mortar retail spaces can use these weather capabilities to help increase traffic.

TouchTunes and Bars merge to change the music experience for patrons

TouchTunes began merely as a more convenient version of a pay-for-play jukebox. Launching its first prototype in 1993, by the late ’90s TouchTunes had distinguished itself as a leader in digital jukeboxes, anticipating the MP3 as the next wave in music storage and playback. Using MP3 technology, TouchTunes killed the competition because they had no storage limitation to the amount of music they could hold, and the price was lower for bar owners. Today, the jukebox remains a visible feature of the brand, which sometimes includes additional features like a photo booth or karaoke, or the thing that most sets the company apart—integration with its app.

The TouchTunes app, working in conjunction with its jukeboxes, allows users to pay-for-play from the comfort of their barstools. Customers can now play that sappy love song anonymously by using not having to walk up to the jukebox to request the song. The app also multiple users to browse the music catalog at once, thereby cutting down on wait times and lines at the jukebox itself. The app can also sync with users’ Spotify and iTunes accounts so that their preferences can be used to suggest new music.

As technology becomes more and more pervasive in our everyday lives, businesses are wise to capitalize on trends and consumer usage in order to provide better service and increase revenue.