Best Applications of IoT in E-commerce

26 November 2020

What is Iot

What is IoT, and Why is There So Much Hype Around it?

IoT (Internet of Things) is one of the most exciting new technologies globally, and each of the business sectors can benefit from it. It is a network of connected devices that interact, collect, exchange, and analyze information. IoT in e-commerce offers endless possibilities to enhance user experience and drive sales.

Sensing Devices

IoT brings convenience to our lives by controlling devices from our smartphones. Some of these devices have sensors, and they can be called sensing devices. They measure temperature, humidity, light intensity, and others. With that, they collect real-life information for you and may notify you if some of the indicators are critical.

General Devices

Another IoT category is the home appliance devices such as air convertors, TVs, and many more smart items. They are the main components of the information exchange. In all cases, they require a wired or wireless internet connection to communicate with the gateway and transfer the obtained information onto the cloud.

Current Applications of AI in IoT in Various Industries

Artificial intelligence has experienced an enormous boom in recent years, owing to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and its application in various industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, transport, agriculture, energy, manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, e-commerce, and others.

Al is the best solution for the factories because IoT devices don’t require wages, and the chances of mistakes are minimal. Of course, the biggest con of artificial intelligence is the potential elimination of certain mechanical jobs, which scares many people.

Use of IoT in Manufacturing

IoT in Manufacturing

Source: https://mojix.com/iot-manufacturing

The Internet of things can be found in almost every manufacturing plant. The reason for that is it increases productivity and removes the chances of delay. The main benefits of IoT in manufacturing are:

Reduce the Cost of Production

By optimizing asset management and inventory management, companies can reduce operating costs and tap new income sources. Smart and connected products enable more efficient and cost-efficient resources such as electricity, water, energy, storage, and labor force.

Faster Production and Supply

With IoT, many manufacturers can benefit from fast production speed. For example, if a man can deliver a ready product in an hour, a smart robot can do the same work faster. The products hop on the assembly line, where they get sorted automatically by a scanner that scans their barcode and sends them directly to the car, and delivers them safely.


With wearable devices, the IoT enables workers to monitor their health to avoid risky activities that can lead to injury. IoT devices help ensure a safe workplace, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In addition to ensuring worker safety, the IoT also addresses safety issues in potentially hazardous environments and predicts accidents. For example, in the oil and gas industry, it is used to monitor gas leaks through pipeline networks.

Current Applications of IoT in Brick and Mortar Retail Stores

IoT in retail

 Source: https://www.sharemyinsight.com/index.php/2017/05/16/retail-iot

Nowadays, IoT is integrated into many retail stores because retailers seek the best way to stay competitive and offer their customers the best experience. All this can be accomplished by using IoT and collecting the right information about your clients.

The most common example of IoT in your local grocery is the cameras perform a security function. Nowadays, every store has cameras to prevent any robbery.  Smart cameras powered by computer vision can help store owners uncover valuable information to analyze their store, customer behavior and personalize the in-store experience.

Imagine doing your usual weekly shopping routine. You head to the vegetable section, and you see that there are just a few tomatoes left.  You get them all and head to the pay desk. If the retailer had invested in smart shelves or smart cameras, they can sense that the stand is empty and notify the worker responsible for the vegetable section to reload. In effect, your mortar retail store would be fully optimized and would always have the products that you need.

Another excellent example of IoT in the stores are the fridges that store meat and other products that require a particular temperature. If the temperature changes, the sensor will notify the person-in-charge to prevent any loss of products, or even worse, a client purchasing a spoiled product.

IoT in E-commerce

IoT for tracking orders in e-commerce

E-commerce has reached a record growth due to the pandemic of Covid-19 and the global digitalization. As a result, Artificial Intelligence started to play a more significant role in customer’s experience.

Semantic Search in E-commerce

Semantic search improves search accuracy by understanding the user’s intention, much like a salesperson in a brick-and-mortar store who can understand the customer’s aim through tidbits of information. In this case, semantic search is an intelligent search where you enter the keywords in your search engine, and then you get the results related to the words you have entered regardless of word order and spelling mistakes. Paired with IoT, voice search, search by image, semantic search can boost traffic and conversion for e-commerce websites.

How Can E-commerce Benefit from IoT?

The Internet of Things is changing the way customers shop online, and businesses are trying to figure out how to use continuous connectivity. Consequently, e-commerce technology companies that provide services to e-commerce businesses are focusing on further developing the Internet of Things to improve the user experience worldwide. The benefits of IoT are countless.

Tracking your Order

IoT for tracking orders in e-commerce

Source: https://gedzy.com/track-order

No matter if you are a buyer or seller, you can track your order. This tracking is real-time, so you can see if the delivery car gets stuck in traffic and avoid unnecessary waiting.  Also, this helps the sellers to prevent any undelivered orders and potential losses.

Management of Inventory

The space in a warehouse is the most important for one retailer. With IoT, businesses can optimize their inventory management to ensure they always have the required products. This system will save a lot of money and time for the retailer and help get real-time information about the warehouse space usage and stock items. As a result, it helps cut on potential losses caused by out of stock products.

Examples of IoT in Ecommerce

Nowadays, e-commerce has become the easiest way to buy something without going to the shopping center and walking around for hours till you find what you are searching for. Visual and voice-supported e-commerce search engines allow you to enter your preferences and the artificial intelligence-powered platform to find the best item that meets all your requirements.

A real-life example of the IoT in e-commerce that we can give you is related to the advertisements we see every day. They are all based on IoT because they collect valuable and personal information about us from our last searches on all devices. As a result, when data is processed and analyzed, we get to see hyper-personalized ads.

Artificial Intelligence for Ecommerce

Source: https://salesvision.ai

One of the AI-based e-commerce technology platforms is  https://salesvision.ai/. This platform helps e-commerce stores to enhance their websites and make the user experience flawless and unique.

Real-World Experience

We created SalesVision to replicate the real-life shopping experience you would normally have in the brick and mortar stores. So that you can enjoy real-life shopping from the comfort of your home, it collects your searches to a cloud where it analyzes the information and delivers product recommendations personalized only for you.

Why Should you Choose SalesVision?

  1. Innovative cloud technology that power smart recommendation system
  2. Auto-tagging for efficient retail operations
  3. Smart image recognition
  4. Accurate recommendations
  5. Affordable compared to other market leaders


We can conclude that running an e-commerce store is almost impossible without AI and IoT in our digital world. AI and IoT help e-commerce businesses optimize conversions, grow revenue, and increase operational efficiency. Moreover, e-commerce stores would not reap the same benefits from digital marketing if not for AI.

Online shopping keeps gaining traction because it saves a lot of time, energy, and money. Moreover, it is much safer to shop from the comfort of your home than to expose yourself to potential health hazards in crowded malls. As a result, e-commerce businesses are now adopting new technologies to make the omnichannel shopping experience smoother, more personalized, and interactive.

If you are running an e-commerce business and want to get ahead of your competition, it is time to implement smart recommendations, visual search, and other features. They will enhance the user experience, reduce bounce rates, and increase your customer value. Think about all those abandoned carts and revenue opportunities lost because you could not upsell an additional product. You can avoid this by implementing AI-powered technology on your e-commerce website.


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