Press Release

Gimbal and NextNav Level Up Location Services to Meet Consumer Expectations

Gimbal and NextNav have partnered to elevate the capabilities of location services for consumers. The partnership makes a new, vertical dimension - the Z-axis - available for brands and retailers within their mobile applications to more accurately understand how customers move through the physical world.

Photo: Gimbal

April 8, 2021

Fulfillment options like curbside and in-store pickup were tested and adopted by a large portion of the U.S. population over the past 12 months. Continued usage of click-and-collect services are expected to stick around, driven primarily by their ease-of-use. According to the National Retail Federation’s Consumer View Winter 2020 study, 83% of households say convenience is more important to their buying decisions than it was 5 years ago.

Gimbal’s On-the-Way SDK enables seamless pickup experiences for consumers by letting stores know when their customers have left, if there is unexpected traffic, and when they’ve arrived on-site to pick up an order through real-time updates. The NextNav Pinnacle service improves the vertical accuracy of those estimates by including floor-level altitude measurements throughout the journey.

“Many brands are expanding their physical footprint right now with a disproportionate number of new locations planned in urban areas where GPS is less reliable. Adding NextNav’s additional layer of location granularity will be a game changer for retailers and restaurants whose customers are traveling to and from their apartments and condos above ground level,” shared Matthew Russo, Gimbal COO/CMO.

Understanding when a consumer enters a geofenced boundary and what floor they are on - whether a parking structure, in a building, or a sports arena - sets a standard of convenience that is otherwise not possible with GPS coordinates alone. This layered contextual data creates marketing opportunities and operational efficiencies, including:

• In-Stadium and Venue Sales - Mobile merchandise or food orders can be easily delivered to fans at their seat via advanced vertical location detection.
• Improved Customer Service– Locating customers in a department or retail store with multiple levels allows store associates equipped with tablets to better service customers. This creates upsell opportunities and has a loyalty play, as well. 
• Product Discovery - Triggering notifications or in-app experiences as users pass by floor-specific products allows for location-aware engagement without the need for any additional hardware.

As the economy continues to open post-pandemic, location services will also serve as a crucial utility for consumers to safely navigate to and through the businesses they frequent.

“This partnership paves the way for new innovations in customer experience that will benefit retailers and consumers alike. Gimbal’s On-the-Way software and NextNav’s Pinnacle solution are complementary products for development teams who are looking to create frictionless experiences for their customers,” said Dan Hight, VP/GM for Data Partnerships at NextNav.