The Potential Benefits of IoT App Development in Retail Sectors

IoT Solutions

The advent of Technology is coming with new inventions and development of new products in the software industry. Today we are witnessing Internet of Things or IoT phenomena taking place in various industries and business niches, and retail industry is no longer an exception.

Examples of IoT App Development in Retail Sector

Some of the instances of IoT given below may convince you to believe that IoT is the next phenomena in the retail industry:

• Smart Mirrors in the dressing room of Rebecca Minkoff
• Target use Beacon technologies for shoppers
• For the ‘Dash Replenishment Service’ Amazon launches Dash Button
• PoloTech Shirts by Ralph Lauren are capable of tracking heart rate and calories burned

 

Key Areas Where Retailers Can Garner Advantages of IoT

Obtaining Product Info using Barcode, RFID, & Sensors

If your products are tagged with the identification technologies, smartphones and tablets have various scanning apps to scan tags and obtain detailed product info including the nearby brick-and-mortar stores, supermarkets or malls in your city/town, and ecommerce stores for online shopping.

It is true for groceries and other stores where product packages can help in this regard. Thus, retailers can help potential customers to find the right product quickly from anywhere and at any time.

Help POS or Exit Desks of Retailers

Moreover, product scanning helps in physical checkout process too at the counter of the retail store. It eliminates the queue at POS or exit desks of the big retail stores or retail chains of stores, as product payment almost done through the app or online and customers only waiting for exit process. IoT app development in retail saves the time of shoppers and POS staff at exit points and ends up with excellent shopping experiences.

Smart Mirrors in Retail Stores

Apparel, clothes, and garment retailers are now opting for IoT-enabled mirrors or Smart Mirrors to see fitting of products on virtual reality app and encourage customers to shop in-person or online from their retail stores.

Smart Thermostat and Lighting in Retail Stores

In big malls and supermarkets, store owners and staff have to constantly watch air conditioning systems and lighting systems in various product display areas including product cupboards.

They have to on-off the systems and lightings according to the presence of customers in those particular areas, and that job proves daunting when staff is busy attending the shoppers in other areas.

Now, IoT-enabled smart thermostat and lighting system can detect the presence and proximity of customers moving in retail stores through various means including retail store app installed in the mobile devices of shoppers and smart camera detecting & recording movements of customers in the premise.

It saves utility bills of retail stores and provides customers ultimate relief. Moreover, automatic thermostat management through Internet of Things retail apps can help retailers with perishable goods to manage the temperatures and humidity accordingly.

Smart Inventory Management using IoT App Development in Retail Stores

In retail chains or big retail stores, inventory management and product tracking are challenging. If products have tagged with identification hardware/code, it can help IoT applications to churn data in real-time and issue notifications to the store managers as well as working staff to replenish the low running products in the shelf, tracks, or departments quickly.

It saves customers from frustrations or disappointments when they are intended to purchase items in bulk. Moreover, it also helps inventory managers to order or bring from storage/warehouse those running low items without any delay.

For retail chain stores, such tagged inventory attached with IoT app development in retail can help a lot to update the product database and manage supply in various stores located different places.

Enhance Security by Retail IoT Applications

Product theft by customers and even internal staff/employee in big retail stores is not a new thing, and it cost dearly in big chain stores too. Security cameras have several limitations to curb the menace. Therefore, IoT app development in retail can help in this regard.

If the products in the retail stores have RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags, nearby beacons, RFID sensitive devices/cameras, and scanners at exit points can immediately recognize the product and run theft alarm or issue red flag notifications. Moreover, valuable products with RFID and GPS tracking chips can help security guards at retail stores as well as police to track the real-time locations of thieves or robbers and helping in recover the products.

Personalized Marketing Opportunities by IoT for Retail Industry

Low Energy Bluetooth enabled technologies like Beacon or iBeacon have provided innovative marketing and personalization opportunities for retailers with big stores. Each section of product category has different kinds of products and marketing incentives. If the retail store is using Beacons, it can shoot personalized marketing messages based on the location of the customers.

Once the customers come into the Geofencing areas of the Beacons, they start receiving personalized product-related messages and offers based on their purchase or visit history. It proves awesome experiences for customers moving with their smart gadgets with the store-specific app installed.

It entices shoppers to know the product details on their mobile devices and redeeming various marketing incentives on each buying. Technically, Beacon or iBeacon can identify the smartphones or tablets with the store-specific app installed and deliver proximity-based messages programmed by the IoT. Thus, IoT in the retail industry can change the scenario of marketing technologies and techniques in the long run.

Accumulating Customer/Visitor Data

If a retail store has customized app and it can convince each customer to install it as soon as a shopper enters the retail premise, it may prove treasure of personalized and customer behavior data when it has IoT capabilities. You can obtain IoT retail use cases to make business strategies.

If IoT-enabled apps, Beacon or GPS tracking technologies, and Wi-Fi foot traffic surveying technologies have amalgamated, it makes retail store smart and leverage tons of customer data using CRM and other customer management software integrated with IoT applications. Thus, IoT app development in retail can change your customer service scenario.

Conclusion

At first place, we have seen real world examples of IoT apps used in retail industry across the world. Later on, we have seen the potential usage of various IoT applications in different scenarios for the retailers.

If you are falling in the retail industry category and looking for IoT app development in retail to leverage the latest advancements in favor of your retail store or chains, you need to consult a leading offshore IoT application designing and IoT app development companies like Addon Solutions for the high quality work at the best rates.

Addon Solutions have invested a good deal of time, resources, and amount to develop IoT infrastructure, as well as experienced and expert IoT development team. The portfolio and loyal customers are indicating the superiority of Addon Solutions in IoT application development services against its rivals in outsourcing community of India.