Mobile marketing technology company Swirl Networks Inc. has announced the launch of Swirl Ad Exchange, which the company claims is the world's first programmatic ad exchange for proximity-based in-store mobile marketing.

Swirl's product enables retailers and brands to reach consumers with highly relevant content and offers delivered to their smartphones while they shop in participating retail locations, according to a press release. For the first time, brand advertisers will be able to directly engage with in-store mobile shoppers in an entirely automated way, wherever their products are sold, the company reports.

Swirl Ad Exchange offers a full suite of proximity-based mobile marketing capabilities – powered by iBeacon technology – to help retailers and brands transform traditional in-store merchandising into interactive mobile experiences for opted-in shoppers based on their precise in-store location and preferences, according to the announcement. Using the platform, retailers can establish their own secure, private ad exchanges, granting select brand advertisers permission to engage with shoppers through their beacon network. Participating brand advertisers are able to deliver targeted mobile content and offers directly to in-store shoppers in a low friction, fully automated way.

Swirl Ad Exchange lets retailers generate additional benefit from their in-store beacon networks by allowing them to package and sell highly valuable, premium in-aisle mobile advertising opportunities to their brand partners through a self-service platform. With exchange, retailers create and control access to in-store mobile marketing opportunities, while brand advertisers are able to programmatically discover, purchase and manage campaigns at beacons located in specific departments or aisles of retailers nationwide.

The exchange can be configured to deliver mobile content wherever beacons are deployed. Today, the platform works with any Bluetooth Smart beacon broadcasting iBeacon or SecureCast signals, and Swirl will be adding support for NFC and other mobile engagement technologies in future releases. Swirl Ad Exchange has been fully integrated with the company's existing proximity-based mobile marketing platforms – Swirl for Retailers and Swirl for Publishers, according to the press release.

"Today, brands spend over $60 billion a year on traditional, mainly paper-based, in-store marketing and promotions," Hilmi Ozguc, Founder and CEO of Swirl, said in a statement. "With the powerful new capabilities of SWx, retailers can now easily set up and run private digital exchanges for their brand partners to access the most valuable ad inventory imaginable: in-store shoppers using their smartphones in specific aisles, about to make a purchase decision. We are at the beginning of what will be a massive transformation in how leading brands and retailers engage with and influence shoppers in physical environments."