Retailers are expected to spend $2.5bn in hardware and installation costs to capitalise on the growing Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.
Juniper Research, in its ‘The Internet of Things: Consumer, Industrial & Public Services 2015-2020’ report, highlighted that the spending will be substantially higher than last year’s estimate of $670m.
Retailers are expected to tap both Bluetooth Beacons, which provides push relevant information to consumers’ smartphones, and RFID (radio frequency ID) tags that provides real-time asset tracking, reduced labour costs and even dynamic pricing.
The research highlighted that leading retailers using the IoT are likely to gain marketing advantage.
By linking devices through Beacons and RFID business will be able to get in-depth business insight and improve overall customer experience.
It also highlighted that cyber security will have to undergo plenty of change as IoT security models will require robust means of identifying inevitable network breaches.
The report also found that 70% of IoT units are likely to be composed of non-consumer devices by 2020, with IoT opportunities expected to approach $300bn annually by 2020.
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Juniper Research analyst Steffen Sorrell said: "Retailers such as Zara and Target are already taking advantage of the benefits offered by RFID asset tracking.
"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."
