• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, August 7, 2015

While the world of the Internet of Things is complex, there are numerous insights around IoT that provide potential directions for future dealings with customers.

Several of these came up throughout the MediaPost IoT: Shopping conference held in New York yesterday and I’ll be addressing several of them in coming days here.

One of the more critical customer interaction issues is around loyalty, a point hammered home by Lung Huang, head of strategic partnerships at the agency 84.51 Degrees, an agency acquired by Kroger.

“Personalization and data is going to be powering everything,” said Huang, in a presentation titled “When the Internet of Things Becomes the Internet of Our Lives.”

“But at the end of all the possibilities, it’s about how do you make the customers’ lives easier and that’s where a lot of people fail. And they fail hard.”

And that’s where loyalty comes in.

“Your loyal shopper is your best customer,” said Huang. “Overall, one loyal customer is worth 22 non-committed customers. “If I lose one customer within our store, it is worth 22 non-committed customers needed to make that up.”

“If you lose your loyal customers, it’s going to very hard to make that up.

“The Internet of Things isn’t one thig, it is many things,” Huang said. “It involves ways we can connect with people. IoT can power pick-up in store, having things delivered, based on location, smartphone, subscription and on demand.”

Huang stressed that using technology to connect and interact with customers is the way to go.

“The connected customer is a great customer,” said Huang.

“The more ways that retailers and brands connect with you, the more engaged you become. It’s really counterintuitive.”