Taco Bell is one of the brands leveraging xAd?s new MarketPlace Discovery platform to gain more insight into customers? foot traffic behaviors, exhibiting the importance of tapping real-time data to serve consumers the right message at the right time.

Taco Bell is using the real-time mobile location intelligence platform to uncover time-of-day as well as day-of-week trends, a feat that helps the QSR chain make more informed marketing decisions. The MarketPlace Discovery tool enables marketers to understand factors affecting their own in-store visitations in addition to those of competitors.

?Taco Bell is currently leveraging insights from MarketPlace Discovery to better understand its customers' actual behaviors and to reach them with the right messages in the right context,? said Shashi Seth, chief product officer at xAd. ?In addition to Taco Bell, several other large, national brands that were given beta access are using the platform.

?Now that these insights are publicly available, we expect every major retail and QSR brand will want access to this important insights tool, which finally provides a window into how nine out of 10 retail dollars are spent.?

Understanding influential factors
XAd?s MarketPlace Discovery platform, which launched earlier this week, allows marketers to pinpoint opportunities to fuel sales and awareness for their businesses in real time.

Several quick service restaurant chains recently sought information regarding breakfast promotional trends. Using MarketPlace Discovery enabled them to discover which brands are most successful with their tactics based on in-store foot traffic.

One of the influential factors found that McDonald?s morning foot traffic was on the same level ? if not higher ? of its competitors? traffic in June, while chains including Wendy?s and Subway?s foot traffic remained subpar.

This highlights a key area of improvement for those brands, which may want to revamp their marketing strategies to better promote their morning menu items and specials.

With the majority of retail commerce still occurring in traditional bricks-and-mortar stores, companies must understand how to differentiate themselves from their competitors and keep visitation levels high.

Brands using MarketPlace Discovery can access time-of-day as well as day-of-week trends, a feature that could help a QSR chain struggling to variate its limited-time promotions.

Staying relevant with consumers
Taco Bell seeks to maintain a strong grasp on customers? habits and behaviors, particularly for those in its restaurants. The chain has been able to use MarketPlace Discovery to augment its targeted messaging techniques and maximize their relevancy to consumers.

Taco Bell has been placing a bigger spotlight on mobile as of late, as evidenced by its millennial-friendly marketing pushes.

The brand recently appealed to young consumers to promote its new value menu through humorous posts on the Wishbone mobile application, playing on the idea that everyone likes to save money (see story).

However, leveraging real-time location data stemming from customers? smartphones may help the chain adapt its future marketing endeavors in an even more successful manner.

For example, after experiencing a precipitous decline in foot traffic following an E.coli outbreak, Chipotle Mexican Grill successfully managed to drive a jump in visits by rolling out a mobile coupon for a complimentary burrito, as evidenced by an independent analysis of its customers' mobile location data (see story).

?With the rise of digital and increased consumer mobility, the correlation between online and offline behaviors have become blurred,? Mr. Seth said. ?Through xAd's foot traffic visitation data, marketers can better determine the most impactful moments to deliver their messaging and drive customers into stores ? which is critical for QSR chains as they're entirely reliant on in-store foot traffic for sales.

?The ability to leverage a tool that enables them to easily uncover the factors influencing store foot traffic patterns, including competitive insights, is critical. MarketPlace Discovery also gives QSR brands the ability to make marketing decisions based on foot traffic insights that can impact their business in near real time, which is invaluable.?