Three Ways IoT Technology Is Influencing eCommerce

Every modern eCommerce player caters to provide its customers with the best personal shopping experience. Connected devices have a huge potential for sharing wholesome insights about consumers’ behavior and preferences with online merchants.

Devices in active use generate enormous amounts of valuable data that can be collected and analyzed to deeply understand what a particular person needs and is looking for now. Moreover, with the help of IoT, companies can determine some trends and changes in demand more precisely.

This approach allows online retailers to act as targeted as never before. Showing relevant offerings based on browsing history and other specific data from devices, brands can ensure not only higher revenue for themselves but also the substantial increase of customer engagement, satisfaction, and eventually greater loyalty.

IoT technology is constantly evolving. More and more objects are being equipped with sensors and software that help to deeply explore customers’ tastes and needs. Home appliances are becoming smarter, different devices can be connected with smart home systems, people are getting used to communicating with virtual assistants every day. All these tendencies together ease the matter of personalization for companies.

Certainly, IoT devices improve peoples’ lives which is a significant factor in favor of permitting them to collect data. However, security and privacy-related risks are still a serious obstacle to using all the capabilities of IoT.

IoT devices and services connected with them (e.g., databases) are often attacked by cybercriminals. Data breaches and phishing attacks are common threats for IoT. While companies have to elaborate technical protection for their systems, governments must think about the legal aspect of IoT functioning

IoT can considerably optimize and automate numerous processes in every retail business, which always implies constant tracking of supply chains and moving cargo. Let’s review several ways of facilitating the workflow.

Sensors and RFID tags (RFID is for radio-frequency identification) allow monitoring inventory in real-time, eliminating the human factor. For instance, smart shelves aid to track the stock. When the quantity of sold products reaches a particular level, the system can place a new order automatically. The same can work backward: the system won’t allow over-stock.

There are several areas where IoT can be extremely useful. For example, sensors for temperature monitoring can control the climate in storage and send notifications if something goes wrong. This efficiently prevents products from spoilage.

Another vivid instance of the successful implementation of IoT is Amazon’s warehouse robots. The giant has more than 100,000 drive units and other robots that transport heavy pallets, pick up, and sort items to prepare them for delivery or storage.

RFID and GPS help in tracking orders from the warehouse to the final destination in someone’s house. Employees and clients can see the whereabouts of the parcel and the approximate time of delivery as well. This solution reduces the frequency of customer inquiries regarding their orders

The proactive behavior of connected devices is one of the most fascinating concepts for eCommerce brands that focus on electronics. Besides collecting and exchanging information, IoT-powered products have the potential to initiate specific suggestions and even actions.

For instance, if your printer detects that a cartridge is almost out, it sends an alert to your smartphone. The message includes not only the warning but also the link to the website of the manufacturer where you can buy a new cartridge.

In the future, there will be an option to place such orders automatically. Therefore, all equipment at home or in the office will be thoroughly maintained and fixed in time. When devices predict that some components run out or prompt upcoming issues, consumers won’t be let down by a coffee machine or hair dryer that suddenly breaks down. It goes without saying that the customer experience will then hugely surpass the level that we have today

Some world-renowned brands like Amazon, Apple, and Google have already been leveraging IoT possibilities to ameliorate customer experience and maximize their own profits. Technology has tremendous perspectives and will inevitably become an integral part of our life. People will enjoy extremely convenient smart homes and smart cities.

Regardless of some security threats, smart devices that ease shopping and anticipate their own problems will be sought-after by consumers. In turn, businesses will gain largely automated processes, better logistics, reduced costs, and higher quality of customer service.