Internet of Things & e-commerce: will they come hand to hand?

Internet of things is the buzzword now, and it will structure the way we use internet. Devices connected to the web & e-commerce will come hand to hand when it comes to sales and user experience. IoT is about to assist you at every sales point that you approach, starting with Amazon Dash and ending on smart-shelves experience, the IoT.

Advanced automated home tools, to help you buy & order

There’s a lot of effort put into automated home devices, to outsmart desktop and mobile usage. With home assistants like Google Home and Amazon Echo, you can check up some interesting informations, turn up the heat in your house, play favourite music or remember an important date. It’s not a newsflash, since we were introduced to a similar technology in Apple’s Siri — but without the possibility to order online. With Amazon’s Alexa you can purchase items from Amazon — which is more than obvious — and also order pizza from Domino’s, simply by speaking out your favourite order. This is a great potential to online retail, since the market for further integrations is widely open. You can imagine, that in future you could order online by just pronouncing your shopping list.

Dash buttons that automate popular purchase

We have reviewed Amazon’s Dash buttons before, but their popularity does not seem to increase. The main idea of this IoT device was to place a connected to web but physical button, next to the most popular objects that you use, like coffee makers or washing machines. After clicking a button, Amazon would automatically place an order for Tide, Gillette or Maxwell House products. With the cooperation of most-known companies, Dash Buttons were designed to gather more and more information on user’s experience. But let’s go beyond the thought of even bothering to click. Imagine products and devices, that know that your toothpaste is about to finish and order it for you, or know that the cheese you have is about to expire, because they have it’s code scanned and simply order you a new one. Is this the future of machine-to-machine ecommerce & sale’s automation? We will see.

All products in your mobile phone

IoT will model consumer’s behaviour also in-stores, as new apps and programs try to bundle online and offline experience. Have you heard of estimote? The app & physical beacon informs you about a sale in-store, or shows the product description on your mobile device, as you walk in the store. Imagine the usefulness of this app doing grocery — all promotions or coupons in your hand. iBeacons devices share a lot of information between the retailer and the customer and even can make you order food while being in the restaurant (no waiter just an app). Purchase suggestions, online order — offline pickup, and “available now” reminders will be the future of commerce apps, mingling the experience of web and classical shopping.