Connected homes

IoT is making it easier for retailers to interact with consumers via connected home-based devices that allow consumers to interact with brands without launching a website or mobile app.

The best known is Amazon Echo, a voice activated device designed with an artificial intelligence assistant app called Alexa. Dedicated sensors in the device connect the consumer’s home to their retailers of choice, allowing, via voice commands, consumers to add items to virtual shopping lists or make online purchases.

Echo follows in the footsteps of Amazon’s original IoT device, the Amazon Dash button, which has an embedded scanner that captures household product bar codes, and then creates a virtual shopping list.