Target Corp. announced today it will test offering store shoppers deals and discounts using beacons at 50 stores nationwide.

Target is using beacons with the Target iPhone shopping app to deliver deals and recommendations to shoppers as they are browsing in the stores in the test, Target announced in its blog. For the technology to work, consumers need the latest version (7.4 or higher) of the Target app for iPhone, Bluetooth turned on in the settings of her iPhone and must opt in to location-based notifications in the Target app. Target will have between 20 and 50 beacons per store but will limit the number of push notifications it sends shopper to two per trip, the retailer reports. A typical Target store is 135,000 square feet.

Beacons are small pieces of hardware that retailers can place anywhere in a store. They pinpoint the location of a consumer’s smartphone that has a retailer’s app. Beacons use Bluetooth Low Energy wireless networking technology, common on all newer smartphones. Beacons can trigger an app to send a message to a shopper based on her location, for example notifying her of a sale on her favorite brand of perfume when she’s near that display.

The retailer, No. 37 in Internet Retailer’s 2015 Internet Retailer Mobile 500 Guide, is working on getting the beacons to work with the Android app.

“Testing of beacons is indicative of cutting through the clutter and making it easy and inspirational for our customers to shop throughout the store,” said Stephanie Farsht, senior group manager of innovation and strategy, at the Retail Reinvention conference today in Chicago.

Target is also thinking about using beacons for more than promotions, Farsht said. In future updates, Target plans to use beacons for other location-based features, such as re-sorting consumers’ shopping lists as they move through the store, so the products she is most near is on the top of the list. Another feature in the app will use a beacon’s location-sensing abilities to help a store employee find a shopper who asks for help through the Target app.

Target will test the beacons and study how shoppers use them for the next 12-18 months, Farsht said.

The beacons are in 50 test stores in Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, New York City, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle. Other retailers testing beacon technology include Macy’s Inc., Urban Outfitters Inc., Kohl’s Corp., Sephora USA Inc. and Walgreen Co.

Another mobile technology Target is currently experimenting with is the Curbside app. The app allows consumers to buy items from Target stores in San Francisco, New York and New Jersey in the Curbside app and then pick them up at the curb of a Target store. A Curbside employee walks to the customer’s car to deliver the goods. Farsht says she hopes the convenient Curbside shopping feature will persuade more shoppers to purchase basic items at Target rather than off Amazon.