Tracking of goods for the tranquility of the consumer

Electronic commerce plays an increasingly important role in the business of companies. In fact, the number of people who buy online at least once a week has increased more than 10% in the last two years, and the number that does at least once a month is close to 60%. Companies that sell remotely must pay attention not only to the quality of their establishments (physical or digital) but also to other areas of business such as transportation or customer service.

When a purchase is made online, three objectives are usually pursued: efficiency, security and speed. The extent to which these three factors are combined will be decisive for customers to follow an online commerce page or seek better quality in the competition. The Internet of Things is the revolution of online commercebecause it offers many new possibilities to make your online purchase a success.

The IoT, linked to blockchain (simplifying a lot, it is a data structure in which the information is grouped in sets), offers a solution for tracking packages and merchandise that guarantees the traceability of the route and the estimated time of arrival, the registration of the conditions of shipmen allowing detection of deviations like temperature, vibration, etc., and the ability to assign responsibilities to each event.

These solutions, encompassed in what is known as Cargo Tracking or Asset Tracking, work through wireless sensors located in the cargo or transport element (container, pallet, etc.), cloud technology and predictive analysis tools. Not only can we know the exact location of the order, but we can also know the climate of the route in which is travelling, something that could allow to change the temperature of the package container, if necessary, to ensure that everything arrives in optimal conditions. Any minimum variation of the temperature or movement of the package due to a bump or sudden braking may alert the carrier and allow them to act immediately.

These solutions can be coordinated with the connected fleet services, known as Fleet Management, and increase the operational and service benefits for the final customer. A fleet of connected vehicles allows you to optimize the delivery of packages by being able to know, in real time, where they are at each moment, trace the most efficient delivery routes and solve problems and incidents such as a delay in the delivery.

In summary, thanks to the IoT, the transport company knows the conditions and variations of their journeys in real time, which allows you to increase the security of the merchandise, be more accurate in the estimated delivery times and minimize transport times thanks to the optimization of the routes used by the carriers.

In addition, the benefits are not limited to the road. Also on the rails and maritime transport the IoT is improving the tracking of goods. With this technology, the communication and coordination of the entire logistics chain will be improved, which includes cars, trains and ships, all sharing information between them and the different infrastructures to predict possible incidents. You can thus exchange information about your position, power and even composition, which will help assess and even deliver orders if necessary at the time of loading or unloading in stations, ports, etc.

These systems of management and optimization of shipments have a direct impact on the client, since the procedures are streamlined and allow a more personalized attention. Normally, the thing that makes consumers the most nervous is the fact that they do not know the state of the product they have just purchased, but thanks to the IoT the security, comfort and higher quality information go hand in hand.