# Retail, proximity and IoT marketing for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, September 2026

Gane Index, September 2026 Edition. Asked as "proximity marketing platform" and as "location-based and in-store marketing tool", six framings each, to twelve models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/retail-proximity-and-iot-marketing/2026-09/smb

This is the permanent record of the September 2026 Edition, published September 15, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/retail-proximity-and-iot-marketing/smb/index.md

**Standing:** Google Business Profile leads with 12% of first choices; verdict contested. 42 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Google Business Profile](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/google-business-profile/index.md) | 12% | 0% | 11 |
| 2 | [PlotProjects](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/plotprojects/index.md) | 10% | 0% | 13 |
| 3 | Propulso | 5% | 0% | 15 |
| 4 | [Estimote](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/estimote/index.md) | 5% | 18% | 17 |
| 9 | [Radar](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/radar/index.md) | 2% | 12% | 25 |
| 10 | [Foursquare Proximity](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/foursquare-proximity/index.md) | 2% | 20% | 20 |
| 30 | [Kontakt.io](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/kontakt-io/index.md) | 0% | 11% | 19 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 140 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: no first choice
- GPT-5.4 mini: Notificare; alternatives Foursquare Proximity
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Qujam; alternatives Beambox, Uniqode, Wave Connect
- Perplexity Sonar: Propulso; alternatives Birdeye, LocaliQ, Presence Engage, YOOSE
- Grok 4.20: PlotProjects; alternatives PromoInCloud, Propulso, Radar, Wilio
- Mistral Small: CleverTap; alternatives ContactID, Google Business Profile, Kontakt.io, Radar
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Radar; alternatives PlotProjects, Propulso
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Thinaire, Wilio; alternatives Kontakt.io, Kumulos
- Kimi K2: PlotProjects; alternatives Radar
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Bubbl; alternatives Estimote, Promolayer
- MiniMax M2.5: Google Business Profile, Meta Ads; alternatives InZynk, Radar

## Sources the answers cite

21 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 4 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- thecmo.com: 12 answers, 16 citations
- g2.com: 9 answers, 18 citations
- clevertap.com: 7 answers, 11 citations
- f6s.com: 5 answers, 11 citations
- mobilozophy.com: 5 answers, 7 citations
- mobileappdaily.com: 5 answers, 6 citations
- slashdot.org: 5 answers, 6 citations
- gartner.com: 5 answers, 5 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://thecmo.com/tools/best-proximity-marketing-software (11 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/location-based-marketing (5 answers)
- https://mobileappdaily.com/products/top-proximity-marketing-apps (5 answers)
- https://clevertap.com/blog/location-based-marketing-platform (4 answers)
- https://f6s.com/software/category/proximity-marketing (4 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/local-marketing-software (4 answers)
- https://thecmo.com/tools/best-local-marketing-software (4 answers)
- https://upwardengine.com/blog/proximity-marketing-local-businesses (4 answers)
- https://messageflow.com/blog/mobile-push-rcs-proximity-marketing (3 answers)
- https://f6s.com/software/category/location-based-marketing (3 answers)

## Warned against

- InMarket: 5 of 6 labels negative. "The FTC’s action against InMarket is a strong example of why small businesses should avoid vendors with unclear data-sharing practices." (GPT-5.4 mini, negative prompt)
- ReachLocal: 3 of 3 labels negative. "Hundreds of complaints across BBB, Trustpilot, and PissedConsumer about fraud, zero leads despite high costs" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Foursquare Proximity: 4 of 20 labels negative. "Most small teams should avoid enterprise platforms like Foursquare or Simpli.fi due to complexity and cost" (Mistral Small, comparative prompt)
- Braze: 3 of 4 labels negative. "Avoid enterprise-heavy options like Foursquare or Braze" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, September 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/gtm.