Motorola Solutions today expanded on its retail offerings with the launch of Mpact, a new unified indoor locationing platform. 

Aimed at mobile marketing in bricks-and-mortar stores, the platform utlizes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Smart technology to engage with shoppers by offering them coupons and assistance. 

Gary Singh, head of product solutions and marketing for Motorola Solutions, said MPact offers something other platform can’t, namely a two-way interaction with the consumer in the store. He explained that MPact can zero in on a customer’s position within the store down to the aisle and actually communicate with them. 

“They can actually start a chat session or a voice session with in-store personelle,” Singh said. “Obviously, we feel like making it a two-way exchange is the real value here.” 

MPact offers three levels of location services: Presence, Zone and Position using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Smart to pinpoint the exact location of customer devices in relation to the merchandise they’re looking at. 

Singh said Motorola is collaborating with four technology vendors, inlcuding in-door maps provider Aisle411; Digby is providing its Localpoint location marketing platform; Phunware provides turn-key, multi-screen solutions; and Swirl’s beacon marketing platform, which allows retailers to deliver relevant mobile content to consumers as they shop. 

Singh said this is still very early days for the technology, with most retailers viewing this as a time to experiement. But he said MPact opens the door for possibilities such as shopping without needing to check out before leaving the store. That said, Singh says that MPact is not pie in the sky. 

“This is a real buisiness that’s going on right now,” he said. “We’re quickly going from early pilots to more mainstream, bigger implementations.”