Since the last time we saw you there have been dramatic shifts in multiple areas. Demonetization in India saw massive uptake on digitization of payments, and Trump took over the presidency in the US. In the same period, Reliance Jio changed the Telecom ecosystem in India by adding 200+ million new mobile subscribers, shaping it’s vision of “Internet for Every Indian”.

We also saw 4G in India becoming mainstream, on both network and smartphone tech adoption, it completely dominated the market. 4G featurephone is an innovation that will take the India market by storm and will stay for long.

Lower data cost caused massive growth in data consumption via mobile devices. Gaming, OTT Video and Digital Audio platforms became the flag bearers of increasing data traffic. India saw the launch of seven big OTT platforms in the last 2 years (namely Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Voot, Zee5, Sony Liv and Wynk). With the growing OTT consumption and the need of vernacular content, we think in the next 5 years’ vernacular content users will grow 12X compared to 2X growth for English content consumers.

Discover how location intelligence produces powerful retail insights that can drive brand performance. Cuebiq and GasBuddy examined over 121 million consumer trips to C-Store and Fuel Retailers in 2017. Our latest Footfall Traffic Report sheds light on retail insights, consumer behaviors, trends and a 2018 forecast provided by CSP.

Key Retail Insights Include:

Retail Intelligence: How Brands Can Drive More Visits and Create a  Better Consumer Experience

2017 in Review: Top Brands, Visit Trends, Consumer Habits,  Shopping Preferences and More

2018 Forecast: Data & Analysis by CSP

Near’s new eBook, “How Retailers can use Ambient Data for aMulti-Channel Strategy,” highlights why retailers need to invest rather than divest in today’s digitally augmented world, and the possible solutions they can adopt in the new playing field to stay relevant.

Since the arrival of mobile phones and smart phones we’ve learned to imagine the potential for connecting a consumer’s location with the products, stores, and services that appeal to them. But location data serves another, more powerful, and ultimately more purposeful role. Companies that use location data to understand and assess the path that consumers take throughout their day can create a very rich profile of how people spend their time.  They can inform their business and marketing strategies, provide messages and promotions that are timely and relevant, and minimize irrelevant marketing efforts.

Key Findings:

The path to a successful data-driven approach

Best approach to your consumers’ journey based on your brand’s objectives

How to bridge the gap between consumers’ online and offline worlds

Which types of location data matter most

While the world has seen a boom in the use of technology to harness data across sectors, the insurance sector has been slower to adopt and implement digital technologies, especially when compared to others in financial services. Leaders in the sector believe that a comprehensive data-driven strategy is the way forward, and have started investing in this direction.

The explosion of Machine Learning and Data Science in the last few years has proven without doubt that high-precision and actionable data gives businesses the capability to curate customers and build new targeted audience bases, and thus recognize new opportunities that might not have been identified before.

Near's ebook - "Leveraging Data-Driven Marketing in Insurance" highlights the current challenges faced by the insurance industry and how they can boost their business by taking the data-driven appraoch: https://near.co/resources/

Cuebiq, a leading location intelligence company with the largest, most accurate location database in the U.S. and GasBuddy, the only smartphone app connecting nearly 70 million drivers with their Perfect Pit Stop, have conducted its second quarterly joint study examining foot traffic of GasBuddy users to convenience stores and gas stations across the U.S. in Q2 2017. As the first footfall trend report series in the fuel and convenience store space, the analysis exemplifies how location intelligence can help this massive and rapidly growing industry understand consumer habits and behaviors.

Cuebiq, the largest provider of accurate and precise location data in the U.S. and GasBuddy, the only smartphone app connecting millions of drivers with their Perfect Pit Stop, have conducted a joint study examining foot traffic of GasBuddy users to convenience stores and gas stations across the U.S. in Q1 2017. As the first footfall trend report in the fuel and convenience store space, the analysis exemplifies how location intelligence can help this massive and rapidly growing industry understand consumer habits and behaviors. Leveraging Cuebiq’s proprietary intelligence platform and data collection methodology, the companies analyzed anonymous geo-behavioral patterns of GasBuddy’s app users, which allowed them to gain insights into its users’ offline behavior such as frequency of station visits, fueling patterns, how long they spend at a location and brand loyalty. Key study highlights include: - GasBuddy and Cuebiq analyzed more than 23 million consumer visits to stations and stores throughout Q1, which enabled them to understand America’s refueling behaviors. - Weekdays between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. were highly-trafficked hours in Q1.

Beacons represent an enormous opportunity for the OOH industry and its partners. By integrating beacons, OOH media owners gain a new digital network that complements their physical assets, increasing the value of OOH properties and enhancing the effectiveness of OOH advertising. Advertisers gain a deeper understanding of mobile consumers, the ability to target specific OOH audiences, and measure the impact of their OOH ads. For mobile app partners, beacons provide a bridge between the digital and physical, yielding insights that can be used to improve functionality and users’ experience. These insights also translate into more precise targeting, higher eCPMs and, with more relevant, value-added content, more satisfied users. Finally, consumers stand to gain by receiving content (messages, ads, etc.), offers and services that more closely match their needs and interests, in places and at times when they can use them.

To capitalize on the mobile, beacons and OOH opportunity, key players – including OOH media, agency and tech partners, advertisers and mobile app publishers – must work closely together and share best practices. Provided the consortium integrates these capabilities in a systematic, consumer-centric fashion, the prospects are bright for the OOH industry, advertisers and consumers. 

A resource for publishers to identify how mobile users are consuming content, what steps they can take to drive more traffic and how these users can support and organically grow the publisher's brand.

This study addresses two key findings that could help content publishers fine tune their mobile strategy:

1. What drives users to share content on a mobile app?
2. What drives users to engage with content on a mobile app?