Retail IoT - Quick Read

Consumers have become hooked on the real-time information that’s personal to them. The world of the modern digital landscape, and they expect their providers to follow suit. They want what they want, and they want it now.

Today’s corporate customers have never had more demands or more opportunities to reach their customers in new and exciting ways. We think they are no longer selling things they’re selling the experience of buying those things.

Moving merchandise more efficiently is one of the goals and IoT can come into play with the maintenance of transport, tracking and route optimisation. We are able to understand to a much higher degree of accuracy how close a pallet of merchandise is to a given store or even a potential customer.

Companies are putting security front and centre in all of their digital initiatives, from their in-store Wi-Fi to their mobile apps and POS systems. Customers must better assess their risk, implement continuous monitoring, and ensure protection of existing technology.

Increasingly I'm seeing more locations connected and businesses understand that customers are able to check pricing and local inventory levels from their many devices. Imagine how much better our merchandise planning and price optimisation would be if we could make a personalised best-price offer in real time or provide location-based services right in the product. What if IoT can help target our customer’s high-value, loyal customers with additional products services? In the past, it was accepted as the norm that we would send mass promotions to customers with the expectation that some acceptable percentage might be interested in that promotion. You can now understand the context (the time and the place of the customer) to identify when we are certain the customer needs help or an incentive to purchase, and we can respond proactively.

Customers expect fast, flexible inventory handling & operations are key at a time when their customer expectations have grown sky high expectations rapidly moving from two-day to next-day to now even same-day delivery in many user cases. Naturally, that puts pressure on our customers — whether it be e-commerce pure-plays who must match that our customers are required to achieve those service levels while also ensuring stores or warehouses are well stocked. To complete, and have the edge customers need to be more nimble than ever in how they leverage their inventory. Many are establishing alternative stocking locations to place goods close to anticipated demand. Anyway some thoughts about retail and IoT