A dedicated downtown app for Apple and Android smartphones is helping consumers find new destinations and parking in Millburn, NJ, and allowing merchants to attract new customers. Users can browse by category, such as “Fine Dining,” or search by keywords to find products, services, and special offers.
The app has “beacon technology,” says Gillian Moritz, executive director of the Downtown Millburn Development Alliance. “This gives business owners the ability to cross promote with each other.”
If users have their notifications turned on, they might walk into the downtown liquor store and receive a message about how well after-dinner chocolates would go with their wine, and an invitation to visit a nearby chocolatier for 10-percent savings, for example.
“That was appealing to us because we wanted our businesses to be able to cross-promote with each other,” Moritz says. “We are somewhat of a destination town. Now, when people are here visiting their regular shops, they can be informed of others that they might not know about.”
The new app was promoted at several downtown events. “We also did giveaways, social media advertising, train station ads, press releases, window clings, and we had table tents for each merchant so that each had something at their point of sale so they could talk to customers about the app,” Mortiz says.
Additional information on downtown apps, filling downtown housing gaps, and welcoming seniors and encore businesses, appears in the February issue of Downtown Idea Exchange newsletter. Click to learn more about Downtown Idea Exchange and other resources for revitalizing downtowns and commercial corridors.