Mr. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, once put in “Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other.” Back then, the statement might haven’t impacted the regular audience. However, today the statement brings significant cadence.
Since the shopping inclinations and preferences of customers are shifting towards the online shopping genre, the industry players do not have any other option than to integrate innovative technology into their business to delight their customers. While we discuss the latest technology in eCommerce, the Internet of Things (IoT) is stealing the game with its latest buzz.
IoT-enabled devices can interchange data through the internet with other IoT-connected devices to assist businesses to run smooth operations throughout.
While in 2020, $2.5 billion was spent on the devices based on the Internet of Things, the numbers seem to escalate with every preceding year.
Let’s discuss how IoT is impacting all the segments of the eCommerce business, taking them to rapid advancement, and how it’s becoming a prominent trend in eCommerce.
Inventory Tracking and Management
If your business is dependent on storage and warehouse ( it will most certainly be if it’s an eCommerce business). If you haven’t incorporated IoT into your tracking system, you can struggle with inventory management, either for tracking supplies or fixing issues.
Internet of Things (IoT) is an improved version that productively reduces human labor and possibilities of error. With streamlined order distribution, you can track the live status of products, which is the most challenging aspect of inventory management. IoT sensors simplify the tracking process, and you can automatically control your options. Therefore by installing IoT software in your warehouses or storage houses, you can leave the daunting task of management to the machines while leaving your human personnel to engage in cognitively demanding tasks.
Productivity And Efficiency
Your marketing strategy is directly proportional to how well you know the market. Integrating IoT devices into your marketing tools will provide a better understanding of your audience. You can leverage these on the social media platforms into your marketing and promotional funnels to reach a deeper layer of customer understanding. And since a large chunk of online users spends their time on social media platforms, you can reach a large audience at once. You can reasonably understand your customer’s preferences based on their geo-locations, search history, etc.
Well-informed strategies concerning consumers strengthen the business productivity exponentially. You shall witness more business in less time as IoT powers the employees to acquire massive tasks with greater efficiency and fewer errors.
Customers encounter fewer impending issues:
If your products and services are faulty, even excellent marketing strategies cannot yield better results or retain your customers. It is extensively daunting for human beings to run quality tests for each item on your website, and you might encounter a significant amount of faulty products.
IoT devices on the other hand can detect impending issues and report them immediately without requiring human interference. This reduces the friction between quality checks and services provided and requires much less time in fixing problems. Thus, companies can rely on IoT devices to ensure overall customer satisfaction and experience.
Better Customer-Manufacturer relationship
IoT will catalyst strong and healthy customer-manufacturer relationships with the help of connected appliances, so the customers and the durable merchandise manufacturers share and appreciate long-term relationships and enjoy them along.
An example to symbolize an enduring relationship between the two parties. take the case of cartridge replacements. When the printer manufacturers provide cartridge replacements from the printers on their own. Customers can recollect the brand every time they use the cartridge. This way the brand leaves an impression throughout the product tenure.
The implementation of IoT in the eCommerce industry has delivered several new business streams for retailers for ongoing services like performance enhancement and analytics for particular products, maintenance, and monitoring.
Personalized Information & Action
IoT likewise collates individual information and that of brands to convey more customized encounters. This technique helps eCommerce retainers to leverage the customer’s connections and provide customized suggestions for the members of each household.
With time, as more customer-oriented information gets collected, markets understand the customer behavior pattern. They leverage the information to provide tailored experiences for every member and impact their shopping preferences in the future. In 2021, there’s nothing more robust for a marketer or an eCommerce retailer than knowing what their customer seeks right now and serving it the best way!
Automated Buying
With everything getting automated, why shall we leave the most crucial part hanging? With IoT integration, customers only need to adjust their IoT settings according to their preferences and the rest moves according to the automation.
IoT systems are capable of ordering specific products according to the buyer’s preference. They can also notify the customers regarding the product’s status, whether it’s back in stock or about to get out of stock, if the eCommerce platform is linked with the customer’s account information. While in the end, the system can also buy the product for you, given you have all the necessary information linked already.
Consumer Experience throughout the buying journey:
Walmart utilizes IoT to stay updated regarding product insights that are trending on social media. This empowers them to understand the inclinations of their target audience and further exercise customized shopping experiences for those customers. It helps them stay ahead of the competition and hold their customers with quality level personalization, which in turn provides satisfaction to customers and higher revenue for the company.
And what else can drive more sales than having your customer feel satisfied after purchasing something from you?
With the right utilization of IoT, you can push notifications and advertisements for a target group of customers. Since it identifies the shopping patterns of specific customers based on their demographics, search trends, shopping history, or the type of content they consume. Blending all these components together, you can personalize the advertisement for specific groups.
This reduces complaints, fewer possibilities of error, prompt solutions, and a more fluid customer experience.
Wrapping up!
With IoT impacting every segment of the eCommerce industry, the future seems promising for it. As more devices integrate and connect, they will gain more intelligent features and data gathering capabilities to improve customer experiences. If businesses are still falling behind in integrating IoT into their eCommerce website, it’s time they start gearing up their actions to provide intuitive websites with customized solutions.
