IoT in Retail & E-Commerce

According to eMarketer report, e-commerce sales across the globe will reach by $27 trillion in 2020. Also, if Gartner insights are to be believed, IoT (Internet of Things) installed base is expected to grow by 26 billion units in 2020. With Amazon echo owners spending about 10% more than earlier, IoT has augmented the growth of e-commerce sector and has impacted millions of lives with its amazing efficiency and simplicity.

With IoT devices making their way to online stores including smart mirrors that allow customers to try clothes virtually and Amazon dash button that helps users to reorder their desired products without logging onto the site, IoT has radically transformed the way a shopper shops!

With an innovative technology like IoT, e-commerce businesses gather huge benefits which help them grow leaps and bounds in a small period of time. Let’s take a look at the advantages that IoT offers to the modern e-commerce sector:

Enhanced Customer Experience

IoT technology enables retailers to deliver a more holistic shopping experience with personalized and contextualized interactions that leads to a high level of customer engagement. Based on shopping patterns that are revealed via search trends and online browsing, IoT helps vendors sell targeted merchandise to their customers. Moreover, sellers can focus on the needs of their customers in a better way. For example, pairing bluetooth beacons with a retailer’s shopping apps over a customer’s smartphones can help decipher the shopper’s move across the store.

Unique Value to Customers

IoT technology leverages real-time information that helps sellers provide a special value to their customers. In the competitive scenario of retail market nowadays, the amount of customer data owned by a retailer is an indicator of its brand equity in the market. Moreover, retail stores make use of this valuable data to focus on various customer engagement tactics including maintenance or long-term warranties, provision of post-sales services well in time.

In fact, IoT helps e-commerce businesses offer unique selling propositions that differentiate them in the eyes of their customers. For instance, Walmart uses IoT to discover the products gaining popularity on social media.

Efficient E-Commerce Logistics

As the success of any e-commerce business relies on seamless and uninterrupted supply chain management, IoT ensures the smooth and continuous flow of goods from one location to another. It also helps in continuous tracking of goods right from their production until consumption. With IoT-enabled detectors, retailers can easily manage the route and speed of their shipped products too.

Also, radio frequency identification (RFID) and global positioning system (GPS) techniques help merchants recognize a product in transit and deliver particular information about its location, temperature and much more. Moreover, e-commerce traders can optimize their inventory and prevent shortage or over-stocking of products in their warehouses using IoT technology.

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