Market analysts are expecting that retailers will spend around $2.5 billion in installation and hardware costs of the growing Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.
In just five years, retailers will be invested in IoT around four times the amount forecasted to be spent this year. According to Juniper Research, in its report titled "The Internet of Things: Consumer, Industrial & Public Services 2015-2020", the spending on IoT will be increased substantially more than last year's estimate of $670m.
Analysts expect that retailers will focus on both RFID (radio frequency ID) tags and Bluetooth Beacons. The RFID tags provide real-time asset tracking, reducing dynamic pricing and labor costs while the Bluetooth Beacons provide push relevant information to consumers' smartphones. According to the research paper, the leading retailers using the IoT will leverage this technology to gain a market advantage.
Businesses will be able to gain access to in-depth insight and improve overall customer experience by linking devices through RFID and Bluetooth Beacons. The report also suggested that, as IoT security models will require more safe means of identifying network breaches, cyber security will have to undergo plenty of change in order to adapt. Since network breaches are perhaps inevitable, rather than concentrating on prevention, those "fundamental changes" in cyber security will shift the focus on quickly identifying security breaches in IoT networks.
According to the report, by the year 2020 IoT opportunities are expected to reach $300 billion annually and around 70% of IoT units are likely to be composed of non-consumer devices. Most of the money spent by retailers on Internet of Things hardware will be business-related rather than consumer-centric.
Steffen Sorrell, the analyst at Juniper Research, has declared that retailers such as Target and Zara are already implementing the RFID asset tracking technology and enjoying the market advantage of the benefits offered. He added that the beacon industry is expanding rapidly; being used as a method to provide consumers with contextually relevant information on their wearables and smartphones. According to Sorrell, this will greatly enhance customer in-store experience.
