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From better selections to more efficient deliveries, IoT can help enhance the e-commerce user experience
The internet-of-things is upon us. With constant communication across different devices with smart features and sensors, these devices are constantly exchanging data with other devices and the internet. IoT has a wide array of use cases and benefits both for consumer and business use. It is now mature enough to influence businesses and make a big impact, such as in e-commerce.
IoT-enabled objects, along with big data, can bring about a lot of positive changes to how organisations run their businesses. This means that even brick-and-mortar stores can gain similar benefits to online commerce platforms, where everything is virtual until the customer receives the product.
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Here are some of the ways in which IoT devices and the data generated from them can influence the e-commerce industry.
Better inventory management
With the massive number of items coming in and leaving the warehouse, it can be a daunting task to keep track of it all. IoT sensors and RFID tags can be used for managing the inventory in real-time, making the flow more streamlined. This will mean better monitoring and tracking of incoming and outgoing items, which will significantly reduce the need for human intervention.
For e-commerce companies, the saved time and human effort means more time to focus on other key aspects of the business. The speed of the process will improve with the deployment of sensors, which again will positively influence the end-user experience.
For example, if an item on an e-commerce store is sold out, customers might start looking for the same item elsewhere. With IoT, an e-commerce platform can be easily setup such that inventory will be updated as new stock arrives — reducing the risk of losing potential customers to competitors.
Enhanced user experience
IoT-enabled devices can report issues even before the customer notices it. This helps the company in anticipating possible complaints, so that these can be identified and resolved more easily. Having the ability to recognise the legitimacy of the reported issues is also something that can help the e-commerce industry immensely. There is no doubt that this will result in improved customer satisfaction and smoother experience.
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Improved efficiency
More efficient operations will also result in a superior user experience. For instance, warranty information can easily be checked, which eradicates any confusion or possibility for dispute. Being able to integrate inventory, logistics and customer-facing aspects of the business would mean less human intervention, which translates to big efficiency boosts.
More marketing opportunities
The popularity of IoT devices will help businesses understand their customers at a granular level that was never possible before. This will open up unlimited possibilities in marketing and promotions.
For example, a shoe retailer called Meat Pack did a very creative promotion using their app in 2012. When their customers who had the app installed visited a competitor’s store, they displayed an app notification saying that they could avail 99 per cent discount on their next purchase from a Meat Pack store. There’s a small catch: The discount would go down by 1 per cent per second until the customer reaches a Meat Pack store. This had the users literally run from their competitors to Meat Pack.
This is a great example of how huge IoT’s potential is for marketing opportunities. Details like geo-location, identity-based information, and the like, would be the main data points that would help in this.
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E-commerce businesses are already relying on DaaS providers to gather data that could help in understanding their customers better from social media websites and forums. Personalised advertising backed by IoT will definitely be a game-changer for the e-commerce industry.
The main focus of any new technology is to meet the growing needs of end-users and providing them with value. With IoT in the crew, e-commerce companies can personalise their services and offers with regard to customers’ preferences. Applying automation will make it even more efficient. This leads to enhanced customer trust and better sales figures.
Logistics tracking
IoT can help e-commerce companies in tracking and monitoring the shipments in transit, in real time, and it will solve multiple issues associated with delivery, which will improve the customer satisfaction considerably. Knowing the rate of movement can help in better estimating delivery times, taking away the guesswork for customers. This will also put an end to the issue of losing shipments or misplacing them, thus saving the company from losses.
Bottomline
There is no doubt as to the potential of IoT technologies in significantly enhancing retail businesses, especially e-commerce. As more devices get connected and gain smart features, the IoT ecosystem will continue to grow, paving the way for even better data generation and gathering and ultimately a better customer experience.
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Jacob Koshy is a tech blogger who is passionate about newer innovations in technology like big data and the Internet of things. He manages content marketing at PromptCloud, a big data company focusing on web scraping solutions. You can follow him on Twitter @jacobpkoshy.
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