The modern, digital landscape has changed. Consumers are hooked on real-time information that is personal to them, and they expect their providers to follow suit. They know what they want, and they want it now.
Companies have never had more demand, or more opportunities, to reach their customers in innovative and exciting ways. They are no longer selling ‘things’, they are selling the ‘experience of buying those things’.
Moving merchandise more efficiently is one way to achieve these goals, and this is where an IoT solution becomes of benefit, through the maintenance of transport, tracking and route optimisation. For example, through IoT, we can 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, to their POS systems. Customers must better assess their risk, implement continuous monitoring, and ensure the protection of existing technology – IoT supports all these efforts.
Increasingly, we are seeing more locations connected. Businesses understand that
customers are able to check pricing and local inventory levels from their 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 into the product? What if IoT can help target our customer’s high-value, loyal customers by offering 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. Naturally, that puts pressure on companies to deliver. To compete and have the edge, companies need to be more nimble now than ever in how they leverage their inventory. Many are establishing alternative stocking locations to place goods close to anticipated demand.
These are just some of the reasons why it is exciting to launch into the IoT space. Through our IoT offering, we can now provide people with an additional service that will benefit their operations and provide them with an edge in an ever-competitive market.
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