Internet of things and sales

Internet of Things has been around for a while

Its just beginning

Although IOT has been around for many years, IOT is just getting started. Even if we exclude computers, laptops and tablets, there are new devices being connected to the internet each and every day. This includes each phone or any type of handheld device, tvs, tracking devices, watches, fitbits, cameras, etc.

Why is it going to explode

Each and every device and hence each and every person is collecting a massive amount of data. We have been generating and collecting data for quite some time. However, today, this data is being collected faster and being stored collectively in huge databases. Even crazier, the data is being stored on geographically redundant cloud storage infrastructure.

It does not end there

On top of collecting massive data from trillions of devices, we have now developed artificial intelligence that learns from data in real time. Gone are the days when we took the data that one company generated and analyzed monthly reports to re-target marketing budgets. Today's big data combined with AI algorithms is changing the business world. This is being called by some as "The Third Industrial Revolution". A google of that term will result in amazing and in some cases scary results.

Where does this lead us to

An example of a problem that IOT could solve is the basic example of shoe sales. In the past I have purchased a pairs of shoes that just did not make the cut. The shoes were either not comfortable at all or in other cases they did not last very long even though they were comfortable. I had some friends that had the same pair of shoes and they found them to be very comfortable and wore them a long time. The shoes appear to be functional for a certain body type and activity. I have used, my latest pair of shoes for about 10 months and that is longer than the normal usage for shoes considering that I workout with them on average 4 times a week.

Well, what if shoes had sensors that measured number of steps taken, number of run strides, length of workouts, thread wear, length of ownership and the number of gym and other exercise location checkins on Facebook? What if positive or negative comments on social media related to the shoes were tracked as well as weight loss, muscle built and increase in lap speeds of the shoe owner. What if all this data was combined with the physical characteristics of the shoe owner? What could we do with this data.

We would be able to walk into a shoe store (or one of our member sites) and be guaranteed that we could purchase the perfect pair of shoes.

The ideas are unlimited.

IOT is just beginning.

PitoFly