Spending by Retailers to Touch $2.5 billion on IoT by 2020

In a recent report it has been stated that retailers who are turning to account from Internet of Things, will be spending more in the coming years. The spending is estimated to reach $2.5 billion in hardware and installation costs by 2020, which is a fourfold increase over the current scenario of $670 million.

Bluetooth Beacons and RFID (radio frequency ID) tags will be the most preferred options for retail spend. While Bluetooth Beacons are used to offer relevant information to smartphones of the consumers, RFID helps in real-time asset tracking. As per a report by Juniper Research retailers capitalizing on IoT will be capturing the market faster.

“Retailers such as Zara and Target are already taking advantage of the benefits offered by RFID asset tracking,” mentions Steffen Sorrell, a Senior Analyst with Juniper Research. “Meanwhile the beacon industry is expanding rapidly; used as a method to provide consumers with contextually relevant information in conjunction with their smartphone or wearable will enormously enhance the in-store experience.”

The Research Firm also stated that the connect units with the IoT is estimated to reach 38.5 billion in 2020. This will lead to major transformation in regards to cyber security.

“Where today’s security is principally focussed on access prevention, the IoT security model will require robust means of identifying inevitable network breaches. Should suspicious activity be detected, parts of the network can then be ‘shut off’ in similar fashion to marine vessel bulkheads to prevent attack spread”, adds Sorrell.

Juniper Research also highlights that 70 percent of IoT units are expected to be composed of non-consumer devices by 2020.

“With diverse business models and aims of IoT projects such as service revenue, spend and cost-savings taken into account, Juniper forecasts the IoT opportunity to approach $300 billion annually in 2020.”