Industry-leading shopping & retail apps like Walmart use Radar to build contextual experiences, delight users, and increase engagement. ![https://s3.amazonaws.com/io.radar.blog/playbooks/shopping-retail/illustration.png](https://s3.amazonaws.com/io.radar.blog/playbooks/shopping-retail/illustration.png) In this playbook, we explain how the smartest product and marketing teams are using Radar to: - Change the in-app experience when a user is at a store - Send contextual push notifications when a user is at a store - Power order-ahead and delivery - Build segments based on place visits - Understand whether users are installing the app at a store - And more ![https://s3.amazonaws.com/io.radar.blog/playbooks/shopping-retail/photo.jpg](https://s3.amazonaws.com/io.radar.blog/playbooks/shopping-retail/photo.jpg) --- ## Radar overview Radar allows you to add location context and tracking to your apps with just three steps and a few lines of code: 1. **Configure context types.** Create custom [geofences](/documentation/geofences), enable [Places](/documentation/places) (place, chain, and category detection), enable [Insights](/documentation/insights) (home, work, and traveling detection), or enable [Regions](/documentation/regions) (country, state, DMA, and postal code detection). 2. **Integrate SDK**. Integrate the [SDK](/documentation/sdk). In the foreground, change the in-app experience based on user context. In the background, listen for events. Or, before integrating, test with our [toolkit apps](/documentation/toolkit) for iOS and Android. 3. **Enable integrations.** Create a [webhook](/documentation/integrations#event-integrations-webhooks) or enable server-side [integrations](/documentation/integrations) to send Radar events and user context to other systems. ![https://s3.amazonaws.com/com.onradar.www/images/docs_integration.png](https://s3.amazonaws.com/com.onradar.www/images/docs_integration.png) For shopping & retail use cases, you might enable the following context types: - Create custom geofences with tag `store`, tied to store ID, to generate `user.entered_geofence` events - Enable Places to generate `user.entered_place` events for specific chains, including competitors for geo-conquesting - Enable Insights to generate `user.entered_home` and `user.started_traveling` events With these tools, let's get started! --- ## Example 1: Change the in-app experience when a user is at a store After creating geofences tied to store IDs or enabling Places for specific chains, you can check geofence or place state to determine if a user is at a store. You can then change the in-app experience, showing content specific to that store, unlocking coupons, and so on. ![https://s3.amazonaws.com/io.radar.blog/playbooks/shopping-retail/geofence.png](https://s3.amazonaws.com/io.radar.blog/playbooks/shopping-retail/geofence.png) ```swift Radar.trackOnce { (status, location, events, user) in user?.geofences?.forEach { (geofence) in if geofence.tag == "store" { // user is at store, change in-app experience } } } ``` ![https://s3.amazonaws.com/io.radar.blog/playbooks/shopping-retail/places.png](https://s3.amazonaws.com/io.radar.blog/playbooks/shopping-retail/places.png) ```swift Radar.trackOnce { (status, location, events, user) in if user?.place?.hasChain("target") { // user is at Target, change in-app experience } } ``` Contextual in-app experiences can improve the user experience, increase conversion, and increase engagement. ## Example 2: Send a push notification when a user is at a store You can send push notifications in a marketing automation integration like [Braze](https://www.braze.com), [Iterable](https://www.iterable.com), [Urban Airship](https://www.urbanairship.com), or [Leanplum](https://www.leanplum.com), or in a custom webhook. For example, you can trigger a push notification when a user enters a geofence with tag `store` or enters a place with chain `target`. In Braze: ![https://s3.amazonaws.com/io.radar.blog/playbooks/shopping-retail/braze.png](https://s3.amazonaws.com/io.radar.blog/playbooks/shopping-retail/braze.png) Contextual push notifications can increase engagement, increase spend, and even attract customers away from competitors when used for geo-conquesting. ## Example 3: Power order-ahead and delivery You can also power order-ahead and delivery, listening for events server-side with a webhook, Google or Firebase Cloud Function, or AWS Lambda Function: ```javascript app.post('/webhooks/radar', (req, res, next) => { const event = req.body.event; if (event.type === 'user.entered_geofence' && event.geofence.tag === 'store') { // user is near store, trigger pickup flow } }); ``` ## Example 4: Build segments based on place visits You can build segments in a customer data platform integration like [Segment](https://segment.com) or [mParticle](https://www.mparticle.com), export events from the Radar dashboard, or send events to AWS Redshift, Google BigQuery, or another data warehouse through a custom webhook. For example, you can build a segment of users who performed the event `user.entered_place` with chain `target` more than 3 times in the last 30 days. In mParticle: ![https://s3.amazonaws.com/io.radar.blog/playbooks/shopping-retail/mparticle.png](https://s3.amazonaws.com/io.radar.blog/playbooks/shopping-retail/mparticle.png) Personalization with segments can improve the user experience and increase engagement. ## Example 5: Understand whether users are installing the app at a store Finally, you can enrich behavioral events like app installs, app opens, searches, or purchases with location context using behavioral analytics integrations like [Amplitude](https://amplitude.com) and [Mixpanel](https://mixpanel.com). For example, you can enrich app install events with geofence state to understand whether users are installing the app at a store. Enriching behavioral events with location context can help you understand how users engage with your app in the real world. --- These are just a few examples of ways that you can use Radar to build contextual experiences, delight users, and increase engagement. Ready to take your shopping & retail app to the next level? [Sign up](/signup) or [contact our sales team](/contact). We can't wait to see what you'll build. --- See our other industry playbooks for more examples and inspiration: - [Food & Dining](/blog/radar-food-dining-playbook) - [Travel & Transportation](/blog/radar-travel-transportation-playbook) - [Entertainment & Sports](/blog/radar-entertainment-sports-playbook)

Radar shopping & retail playbook

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