THE DIGITAL PRODUCT LIFECYCLEHow smart products can improve supply chain efficiency and drive more valuable consumer relationships.

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This presents an exciting opportunity for consumer product manufacturers to digitize their physical products and make them “intelligent.” Everyday items such as a bottle of wine, a T-shirt or a box of cereal can be enhanced with web connectivity and a digital identity, making them smart, trackable and interactive. These digitized products can generate cost efficiencies and new revenue streams throughout the product lifecycle.

Digitized products create new data streams at every point along the supply chain—data streams that can be used to improve every aspect of the product journey, from manufacturing to post-purchase customer experiences. Innovative manufacturers and retailers are harnessing these new data streams to facilitate traceability, verify product authenticity, optimize inventory and even combat the gray market.

They also drive new types of consumer engagement. Using mobile devices to scan physical products, consumers can learn more about them, or interact with them in different ways both in-store and out-of-store. Thus, products become a new channel for marketing, e-commerce and brand communications, presenting companies with new ways to engage consumers—before, during and long after a purchase.

Introduction

The rise of smart products has created a new concept: The Digital Product Lifecycle.

The Digital Product Lifecycle weaves together the disparate stages of the supply chain management and customer relationship management in a connected, cyclical way, powered by real-time data.

In the pages that follow in this Digital Product Lifecycle eBook, we’ll show you:

• How data can help improve supply chain agility and visibility

• How you can use products to build deeper relationships with your customers

• How you can leverage connected technology to increase purchases and gain insights into consumers beyond the point of sale

We invite you to read on, get connected and let us know what you think at hello@evrythng.com.

1 http://www.zdnet.com/article/iot-devices-will-outnumber-the-worlds-population-this-year-for-the-first-time/

The rise in connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming everything, from the way we communicate with one another to the way we interact with the world around us. This year, the number of connected devices surpassed the global population, and it’s estimated that by 2020, there will be 20 billion connected devices1—each generating its own unique dataset.

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Traditionally, many enterprises have drawn a line between supply chain management and consumer relationship management pre- and post-sale. There’s everything that happens before a product is sold, and then there’s everything that occurs afterward. Different systems, teams and functions are typically responsible for the pre-sales process (i.e., Development, Manufacture and Distribution) than are responsible for point of sale and beyond. And siloed systems have made it difficult to connect the dots.

This is no longer the case. The digitization of physical products allows the seamless flow of data across the entire supply chain and customer relationship management process. Not only is this now technically possible, it’s quickly becoming a competitive imperative.

EVRYTHNG was founded to enable any product to be “#BornDigital™.” Our IoT SaaS Platform gives a unique digital identity to every item, embedded into the product or its packaging at point of manufacture. This identify is stored in the cloud, and can be accessed remotely at any time. As a result, products can generate and respond to real-time data throughout their lifecycle, driving greater operational efficiency, better consumer engagement and higher brand advocacy.

Digital Product Lifecycle Stages

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Parts/Materials Sourced Materials & Ingredients, Provenance,

Sustainability Data.

Recycle Replenishment Data, Where Recycled,

Sustainability Data, Change of Ownership.

Post-Purchase/ConsumptionLive Usage and Consumption Data, Proactive

Monitoring, Behavioral Patterns (e.g., Who, When, Where, How Often, Promotion Response).

ManufactureWhen, Where Made, Packaging Components, Batch, Production Line, Factory.

DistributionLogistics Details, Stock Location & Quantity, 3PL Performance.

Retail/WholesaleStore Locations, Inventory Levels, Product Authenticity.

PurchaseProduct Performance, Shopper Engagement, Purchase Volumes, Changes in Demand.

How new data streams from #BornDigitalTM products enable insights and applications throughout the product’s lifecycle.

Digital Product Lifecycle Stages

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Parts/Materials Sourced

Manufacture

Digitized products enable brands to aggregate and manage critical information about the manufacturing process (e.g., raw materials and components used, dry goods such as packaging or glassware, whether products were sustainably sourced or farmed). This level of transparency is essential for brands to locate affected items in the event of a quality control issue, or to provide consumers with detailed and up-to-the-minute information about the product they’re purchasing.

Digital product lifecycle management means gathering data from disparate ERP and manufacturing systems, as well as from the products themselves. This data can be combined to create a digital record of every individual item—when and where it was produced, including the batch, production line and factory in which it was manufactured. End-to-end traceability relies on centralizing this data, making it uniform, searchable and accessible in real-time via the web.

Digital Product Lifecycle Stages

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Distribution

Retail/Wholesale

Real-time visibility throughout the extended supply chain, across multiple 3PL partners, helps reduce diversion, improve inventory management and increase logistics efficiency. Smart products enable supply chain managers to view product journeys in real-time, and can help them optimize shipments and suppliers, as well as gain insight into volume and changes in demand in particular locations.

For many manufacturers, retail is a closed-loop environment, offering little or no visibility into inventory levels, demand changes or product performance. How can you ensure stock is in the right place at the right place time if your data is a week old, and summarized in a static spreadsheet? Smart products communicate in real-time with the cloud, enabling Just-in-Time replenishment in-store and omnichannel excellence.

Digital Product Lifecycle Stages

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Purchase

Post-Purchase/Consumption

The point of purchase is where Born Digital products first meet consumers. From apparel to electronics, these smart products can serve as their own marketing channels, educating potential customers about the materials used to create them, style tips, nutritional information, rewards programs and more.

Brands can update information about their products remotely, removing costly in-store updates. They can also begin an ongoing relationship with customers through data captured in-store, and gain added insight into the retail experience.

Brand managers can treat their smart products as a communications channel and send offers or cross-promotions to devoted users, or alerts to those who haven’t used or worn their product in a while. In fact, smart products drive higher engagement rates than any other owned-media source.2 Product interaction drives consumer data acquisition and creates an ongoing 1:1 conversation with customers that builds brand loyalty.

Perhaps more important, Born Digital products generate data constantly, helping brands understand real (and not merely self-reported) consumer behavior and usage trends, as well as consumer insights that can be leveraged for future marketing and product development initiatives.

Digital Product Lifecycle Stages

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RecycleConsumers can responsibly dispose of smart products by scanning their item and finding out where nearby recycling locations are. In so doing, brands can meet sustainability targets and at the same time get visibility of when consumers may need to purchase replacements, presenting an upsell marketing opportunity.

Digital Product Lifecycle Stages

How brands are using smart products to cut costs and create new value.

Digital Product Lifecycle In Action

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SMART PRODUCTS DASHBOARD

Digital Product Lifecycle In Action

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Gray MarketDigitized items, cases and pallets enable brands to track location and quantity of their assets all around the world. Real-time dashboards and mobile apps show whether inventory arrived on time and in full. Brands can set software rules in the cloud to detect if stock is in the right location and country, and take action when issues arise. 3PL partner performance can be measured in real-time using specific KPIs.

I was bottled in Cognac in 2018, and packed in a case

destined for Singapore. This scan shows I’ve ended up in

the wrong market.

Product AuthenticityBrands can fight counterfeiting using crowdsourced data from smart products. Each serialized item has its own unique identity in the cloud, connected to a smart label or code on the item. Genuine products can confirm their authenticity in real-time when scanned by brand inspectors. More important, as consumers interact with products for brand experiences, their scans serve as a large-scale field team of inspectors, revealing when fake or copied items are detected, with real-time alerts with geolocation details.

SMART PRODUCTS DASHBOARD

AT POINT OF SALE

Digital Product Lifecycle In Action

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I’m fake.I’m real.

Counterfeit scan detected.

Stock ManagementWith digitized products, your supply chain can become more responsive to in-store demand so you can avoid costly stockouts and over-stocking. Collecting real-time POS data in the cloud on every individual item gives granular dynamic product quantities in store and can automatically trigger replenishments from local distribution centers. It also provides detailed insights on who is buying your products to help optimize production and logistics planning.

Digital Product Lifecycle In Action

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IN STORE

Only 1 left in store. More stock required.

Quality Control & Recalls With digitized products, it’s over 40X faster for companies to trace where any product is in the world, and the components that went into them. Every smart product stores data about itself in the cloud, which is accessible from anywhere. This also means consumers can simply scan smart labels with their smartphone to see product provenance data or find out if the product is part of any brand recall.

Digital Product Lifecycle In Action

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IN STORE

Warning – initiate product recall for all items made on

production line C in batch 400.

This cereal packet is part of a faulty

batch that has been recalled.

SMART PRODUCTS DASHBOARD

Product Information and ProvenanceBrands can use smart products to drive-in-store purchases and promote consumer trust by letting shoppers scan to access coupons or get additional product information, such as sustainability information, nutritional data, style tips or care instructions. Product information can be updated remotely in real-time, so companies can easily push new promotions and offers or meet stringent new transparency labeling regulations with ease. Information can be contextualized by country or region for greater targeting.

Digital Product Lifecycle In Action

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I’m organic and contain a unique blend of essential

natural oils and plant extracts. Scan me for beauty tips once you get home, and

opt-in to receive coupons and new offers!

Experiences & Loyalty ProgramsConsumers can scan product post-purchase to gain personalized rewards and promotions, activate and manage loyalty programs, reorder items or access relevant product content (e.g., workout videos or playlists to accompany a pair of shorts, VIP experiences, contests). This creates an ongoing relationship with the brand, and gives brands owners visibility beyond POS into not just who is buying their product, but how they are using them. Companies can send news of new features, services, and products directly to customers, without updating external packaging or being disintermediated by third-party retailers.

Since all data is cloud-based, this valuable consumer data can be connected with existing CRM platforms and marketing automation tools, building more robust consumer profiles to be used in retargeting initiatives.

Digital Product Lifecycle In Action

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Nice job! You’ve run 10 miles

this week! Here’s a new

playlist to keep you going!

Creating the Digital Product LifecycleBrands who want to realize the benefits of smart products can follow these four steps to get started:

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1. Put digital triggers on your products. The first step in unlocking new data streams is to put digital identifiers onto your products, cases or pallets. These can take the form of embedded sensors, RFID or NFC chips, printed electronics or QR codes and barcodes; which allow them to interact with readers, smartphones and sensor networks.

2. Create digital identities in the cloud for your physical products. The key to total visibility throughout the supply chain and delivering personalized product experiences is having a unique, secure ID and profile for each serialized item. This ID is stored in the cloud, and can be used to is used to collect data from physical products and to trigger applications or notifications.

3. Connect smart products to other enterprise and partner systems. Smart products remove the siloes that exist in many traditional organizations by aggregating data from ERP, CRM and Marketing Automation platforms and sharing with other platforms in the wider digital ecosystem. Get your systems connected to take advantage of the entire digital product lifecycle.

4. Build applications and gather analytics. Deploy web and mobile applications built around your smart products to improve supply chain efficiency, boost customer engagement and grow brand loyalty. Leverage the data generated using external BI systems or custom analytics dashboards to provide insights, trends and business value.

About EVRYTHNGEVRYTHNG is the market leading Internet of Things SaaS Platform connecting consumer products to the Web

and managing real-time data to drive applications and analytics throughout the product lifecycle. The world’s leading consumer product manufacturers work with EVRYTHNG to manage billions of intelligent identities in

the cloud for their products.

To schedule a demo and see how EVRYTHNG can help your business leverage the Digital Product Lifecycle approach to grow your business, visit us at evrythng.com or drop us a line at hello@evrythng.com.