IoT in Trade: Five Ways Internet of Things is Transforming eCommerce

The Internet of Things –has received enormous attention for good reasons. The potential benefits the technology has drawn has helped many vertical businesses create real economic value. The eCommerce industry is one amongst them. The rising demand for agility in organizations and the impulse to act rapidly on customer’s needs by bringing solutions to market quickly has inspired eCommerce businesses to transform every part of their business with advanced technologies and harness their power in eCommerce app development, marketing and warehouse management. In this blog, we will unleash the power of IoT and its broad scope in eCommerce and retail operations.

IoT in eCommerce App Development

1. Enhancing User Experience

The IoT allows businesses to discover issues, get product insights, and attract more customers. A standard example of this is Walmart. The company used IoT to its full potential to get the insights of its trending and popular products on social platforms. And then used its insights to deliver a holistic shopping experience to customers with desired personalization. IoT also allows sending automated messages and notifications to customers informing them about the real-time status of their package.

2. Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Right from order preparation and packaging to order delivery and receiving- a swift and uninterrupted supply chain is important for any eCommerce business. The IoT plays a lead role in the transfer of goods from one point to another without risking upon the chances of theft, damages, and process delays. Connected devices and technologies like RFID and GPS can provide the entire information about location, tracking the shipped items, sensing temperatures (of products like FMCG and pharmaceutical products), and whereabouts of drivers and their active status. Sensors also help in real-time monitoring of the deliveries.

IoT in the Warehouse Management

1. Inventory Management

IoT sensors, RFID tags, and its connected devices help in increasing visibility into the inventory items’ quantity, location and movements by providing real-time updates to inventory managers about the status location and movement of items. It also allows warehouse managers to manage, track, and analyze the stored items in warehouse. The sensors used in storage bins and smart shelves help in getting insights about product longevity, batch ID’s, manufacturers name, and product availability which helps in sensing out of stock products.

2. Temperature Control

IoT helps in managing and controlling temperature conditions of the warehouse such as humidity, vibration, and noise levels and setting the optimum temperature for perishable products.

3. Warehouse Maintenance

IoT enabled devices to help in reducing overall costs by ensuring optimal utilization of labor, utilities, and storage space. Decreased wastage of resources helps in increased profits and fewer management costs.

How does IoT revolutionize eCommerce operations?

IoT revolutionizes eCommerce by improving user experience with tailored alerts, streamlining warehouse management with inventory insights and temperature control, streamlining logistics with real-time tracking, and honing marketing tactics with data-driven campaigns—all of which increase ROI and profitability.

IoT in Marketing

1. Analyzing Customers and Market Needs

The Internet of Things helps in launching targeted marketing campaigns based on insights and collected data gained from IoT connected devices such as customer’s behavior, shopping patterns, lifestyle, and habits which influences their purchasing decisions which in turn, helps marketers in selling products and services to targeted customers only.

2. Personalized Ads

The IoT based personalized ads enable businesses to sell relevant products at the right time. The use cases where IoT can be used in advertising are:

• Context-based advertising- Increase the conversion rate by sending context-based ads to users. Like e.g. by connecting to users’ wearable, advertisers can send them health-related ads.
• In-store advertising- Show real-time ads to buyers in the store and influence their buying decision.
• Location-based advertising- Track customers’ locations with GPS and send relevant ads.
• Intent Marketing- Understand customer’s intent towards a brand, love for particular product and then send only relevant ads boasting the same product range.
• Interactive Advertising- RFID tags connected to products help in sending personalized communications about the product to the customers.

Conclusion

IoT has radically changed the eCommerce industry and is tremendously helping in collecting deeper insights into customer behavior and demographics and in reaching target markets. And by leveraging the capabilities of this data they can increase conversions, enhance ROI and ultimately profits. Want to assess its capabilities and efficiency in your business? Get an eCommerce app developed right away and start reaping profits.

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