Retailers' "Overtaking" Opportunities Are Crucial.

Compared with physical shops, the convenience of online shopping is a great advantage.

Because of this, Amazon and other e-commerce giants are growing at an alarming rate.

With the development of Internet of things, physical retailers now have the opportunity to take advantage of real-time inventory and customer characteristics to compete in the competition.

Through smart phones, shopping malls can now send a welcome message to regular customers who can tell customers before winter boots.

The discount is being cleared, and the clothing store can tell the past customers to shop immediately before the promotion starts.

Not only that, Accenture believes that the development of the Internet of things brings opportunities to retailers in three key areas: customer experience, supply chain, and even new channels and sources of revenue.

It is changing into reality and much faster than most of us realize.

The proportion of consumers using IOT equipment is expected to grow rapidly.

According to the research on the status quo of Internet of things by Accenture interactive digital marketing service department, nearly 2/3 consumers intend to buy networked household appliances by 2019, while wearable technology companies are expected to double in 2016.

As an emerging vocabulary, "industrial Internet" is used to describe how enterprises use cloud computing, mobile technology, big data and other technologies to improve business efficiency and promote innovation by linking the digital world and the real world closely.

By 2030, the combination of the industrial Internet and the Internet of things will bring more than 14 trillion US dollars to the global economy.

With the increasing complexity of supply chain, the importance of digital channels is increasing day by day, and consumer demand is constantly increasing.

The networking equipment and products bring opportunities to retailers in optimizing operation.

For example, a vending machine management company in San Francisco, called Cantaloupe Systems, specializes in the huge network of 100 thousand snacks and beverage sales machines distributed across the United States.

The company's chief executive's task is not to let these machines be sold without goods.

But convincing operators to use software to improve efficiency is almost impossible.

After consulting a cloud computing company,

Connecting the vending machine with the Internet enables employees to supervise these machines remotely.

All these intelligent vending machines are aware of shortages, abnormal temperatures and theft.

Now there is only the problem of supply and demand.

The Internet of things brings an opportunity for retailers to develop a large-scale improvement ecosystem, linking the real world with the digital world, and can achieve two-way real-time interaction with consumers both inside and outside the store.

Smart phones will become the center of this interaction.

Retailers began to worry that shoppers were carrying smart phones to store observation (looking at products in a physical store, then buying online, usually from competitors' online stores), and gradually changing to explore new ways to interact with consumers, thereby enhancing their store experience.

One way is to use location based beacon technology to interact directly with customers when customers enter stores.

Brand stores such as Rhodes and Taylor and Hudson Bay Company are already using apple iBeacon technology and Swirl mobile marketing platform to push personalized promotions to customers who downloaded the company's applications.

We can make use of the massive data generated by these interactions to improve customer's store experience.

For example, using sensors to track customers' paths in stores helps managers to improve store layout and goods placement strategies.

Hugo Boss has tried to install thermal sensors in its clothing store to track customers' movements, so as to help store managers store their high-end goods in crowded areas.

In addition, data visualization technology makes it easier for employees to track the location of products in the supply chain.

This service can even extend to customers. For example, customers can track customized orders in the process of production or distribution, and which part of the process is in the process.

Store managers can adjust prices in real time, use Internet based smart price tags to reduce prices of promotional products or slow turnover products, or raise the price of products with large demand.

Fully integrated pricing system can help retailers improve the synchronization of commodity prices on shelves, cash registers and the entire channel, and check whether online prices are consistent with the prices of physical stores.

Other IOT devices can be integrated into the supply chain to further improve store operations and reduce costs.

For example, sensors based on the Internet of things can enable store managers to monitor lighting and temperature control, adjust settings to improve customer comfort and save energy more effectively.

Using sensors, the various functions that are manually adjusted by the current staff can be changed into automatic adjustment, such as tracking inventory or adjusting the price of individual goods, so that the sales staff will have more time to communicate with the customers, thus further upgrading the experience in the store.