The impact of the Internet of Things on value added to Marketing 4.0

Summary The evolution in the field of information technologies that has taken place in recent decades has transformed the world. The marketing sector has undergone similar changes. At present, the internet as a groundbreaking achievement resulting from the evolution of information technologies is being integrated with marketing activities. Thanks to this we can witness a new generation of the activities referred to as the age of Marketing 4.0. It is urgently needed as today customers demand something more than just products that meet their basic needs, satisfy their desires, and soothe their anxieties. Clients are now looking for products that will allow them to fulfil their creativity and find the values defined by Marketing 3.0, however, they want to be able to become a part of the product, that is, to contribute and interact with the product, and then, harnessing information technologies - to share their experiences and verify if the product is actually fulfilling the task that it was meant to. This is also why marketing no longer focuses on the product - just like the internet no longer centres around data. At present, both marketing and the internet focus on clients and enhance the interactions between the client and the product; while doing this, they are based on the values of the users and offer them more data. This article presents the key elements of Marketing 4.0., discusses its relationship with the Marketing 3.0 concept and explains the extent to which next generation marketing is an extrapolation of the concept of Marketing 3.0. At the end, some examples of technologies from the Internet of Things, which facilitate interaction between the user and the products and the internet have also been provided.