Evolution of IoT and the Retail Revolution
Published on : Wednesday 25-12-2019
With more numbers of sensors, microchips, and actuators in place, IoT is expected to have a large impact on e-commerce businesses, says Dr Alok Chandra.
The logistics industry is an early adopter of technologies like AI, IoT and Blockchain, and is already reaping great business benefits. Underpinned by advanced BI analytics, IoT technology has vastly increased its capabilities for the last couple of years. Digitisation of data enables automation to scale operations. The Internet of Things (IoT) has been causing quite a stir, and now it appears poised to cause a positive disruption in the world of retail.
Here are some specific ways IoT-related technologies may be utilised to boost both in-store and online retail transactions.
Smoother, more connected experiences for in-store consumers: Analysts predict IoT will revolutionise the ways we shop at our favourite stores. Some technological advancements likely to soon become mainstream include intelligent barcodes customers can scan to get more details about products, in-store advertising that works via facial recognition and can give personalised insights, and the ability for shoppers to sign up for text messages that offer special deals on products as they move around stores. The overarching goal of all these high-tech hopes is to create fun, exciting shopping experiences that integrate numerous promotional tactics.
IoT enabled wearables can also help store employees learn up-to-the-minute details about shelf inventory and make real-time price updates, eliminating the need for workers to manually apply new price tags. IoT-enabled robots could streamline supply chains and emphasise safety. It is also expected that before long, robots that are linked to IoT could shorten the distance between warehouses and store shelves.
Ecommerce enabled by IoT is less of a revolution, and more of an evolution. Ultimately, the potential of IoT technology will significantly enhance ecommerce as more devices gain smart features and get connected. Ecommerce players need to keep in mind that the IoT ecosystem is fundamentally about internet-connected things. But when we talk about shipping, then shipping is a key part of the business. It then produces web dashboards and custom reports from that data.
For a long time, IoT has been a transformative force for an array of industries, with 70% of the world’s retail and ecommerce providers betting on connected tech to drive tangible business value. This is the stage where customers ultimately experience the ordered items or products in person and can express their feedback, with all this timely process chain depending on the defined shipping strategy. The most important area where IoT is making a big difference immediately, is obviously the last mile.
With more numbers of sensors, microchips, and actuators in place, IoT is expected to have a large impact on e-commerce businesses. The ‘Internet of Things’ could enable consumption to be more accurately measured within the durable good itself. IoT in the logistics ecosystem can provide great insights on inventory management, shelf life, storage temperature, delivery routes, real-time tracking of freight and more. A recent example is that of joint venture between IBM and Maersk, who have recognised the potential and embarked on digitising their global trade and supply chains.
IoT bridges information technology with supply chain operations to make supply chains faster, better and cheaper. It’s largely about planning and forecasting and there are a few enterprise IoT platforms available that provide a standards-based approach to connectivity and control of devices along with open APIs to create apps, onboard devices, and enable collaboration.
Once clicked, the button gets connected to the Wi-Fi, sends the unique product code – assigned earlier by the customer – to the Amazon app and makes the order in a matter of seconds (Source: Statista). In the meantime, some companies with brick-and-mortar presences have gotten creative and found temporary workarounds to warehouse space issues by using retail stores as mini-fulfilment centres to supplement their established fulfilment facilities.
IoT has enabled the number of orders be restricted to just one in 24 hours to avoid extra spending when the button is pressed by mistake several times.
But aren’t there privacy concerns here? Of course there are, but like any risk with any new technology, it will be dealt with. IoT products like these make shopping faster than ever, closing the gap between buyer and purchase. It’s reasonable to wonder if the spike in warehouse and storage revenue reflects a shortage of space and consequential price hikes. Product replenishment is only one area impacted by IoT innovation. The impact of growth in the IoT industry is impacting businesses across the world, and with connected devices increasing in number and strength, it’s taking the supply chain industry to new heights.
IoT gives us access to a vast trove of data about how people work and live. This will have many implications for the material handling industry, which is currently in the process of developing smarter technology as part of the global drive for more efficient and transparent supply chains. In this article, we look at some of the many ways IoT can improve logistics and inventory management.
Using DC building data for modelling can not only make better use of the space, but also better predict long-term maintenance and operational performance over the life of the building. With the integration of these systems, IoT will revolutionise the customer experience. Severe weather, port delays, or late delivery of goods are accounted for to assess priorities and options, and offer the optimal decision automatically. This central hub resides in the cloud, providing a networked ecosystem that serves as the foundation of the IoT supply chain.
In the near future, we may see a shift away from humans handling repetitive and potentially dangerous warehouse duties as IoT robots fill the void. Considering the massive scale of some online retailers’ distribution centres, it’s easy to see how warehouse robotics could have a positive impact in this area as well as in sales at both brick-and-mortar and online stores. Major brands clearly see how the IoT could reshape retail. Clearly, IoT is set to dramatically change how we shop for the things we love, regardless of whether we buy them on websites or in traditional stores. If the examples cited above make you feel excited about future possibilities, you’re not alone.
Theorising about what’s ahead, only time will tell what’s to come in the months and years ahead, but if headlines are any indication, we can look forward to an enhanced shopping experience that gives employees more flexibility to meet customers’ needs via high-tech platforms that manage formerly human-driven tasks like inventory management and price changes. It’s also likely we’ll be less dependent on employees to provide details such as whether clothing in a certain colour is in stock, or if a nearby store has the specific product we want. As for the giant warehouses that are a necessity for most large online retailers, expect robots to commonly assume some of the tasks that could be dangerous for humans to do.
One thing’s for certain – thanks to IoT, the retail industry has already changed in major ways, with more still to come.
Dr Alok Chandra has overall 29 years of diversified experience in operations customer experience, supply chain management, procurement, distributions, logistics, e-commerce and foreign trade in different terrains and geographies.