IDC Retail Insights arms retailers with technology strategy for the Internet of Things

report-contract

IDC Retail Insights announced a new report, Business Strategy: Developing an IoT Technology Strategy, which outlines how retailers must plan now for the Internet of Things (IoT) even if IoT hasn’t made it to the top of their priorities list. According to the new report, applied IoT technology positively impacts top- and bottom-line business performance by improving omni-channel operations and enabling personalised and contextualised interaction with consumers. Understanding the technology landscape and defining a roadmap for IoT implementation requires uncommonly long-range planning, but is rewarded with reduced long-term implementation costs and total cost of ownership (TCO).

The convergence of cloud, mobile, big data/analytics, and sensors has created an opportunity for retailers to engage consumers and employees in radically new ways. Within five years consumers will expect that retailers engage them with personalised and contextualised interactions. In the same time frame, if the retailer hasn’t figured out how to improve real time inventory accuracy to 98% or better, they will struggle to close the online or click and collect sale.

The report provides the following insights for retailers:

  • A definition of IoT technology
  • A thorough examination of the technology landscape for IoT (for retailers)
  • Specific steps to developing an IoT technology strategy
  • Guidance for driving retail IoT programs forward

Leslie Hand, Research Director at IDC Retail Insights, reports that, “Retailers can improve operations, reduce risk and loss, and wow the consumer with IoT-enabled capabilities. Now is the time to establish a strategy and develop a roadmap for IoT. A well thought out plan will guide the reduced cost of ownership of IoT technologies and enable continued agility and innovation.”

In another new report announced today, Business Strategy: Understanding the IoT Use Cases For Retail, discusses many of the most common use cases currently being implemented, including product tracking/traceability, interactive consumer engagement and operations, mobile payments, asset management, and fleet and yard management.

The IoT journey, rich in opportunities, is also full of challenges – the biggest of which is enabling tactical applications sometimes in isolation of a plan for an architecture designed for IoT. IoT requires an event-oriented paradigm, which includes listening, bi-directional messaging, information distribution, and communications over a variety of networks. The architecture for IoT stretches the limits of retail legacy networks. When evaluating IoT technologies, IDC Retail Insights recommends retailers gain an understanding of the technology landscape for the variety of technologies and the related intersection points as soon as possible.

The new report also outlines specific steps to developing an IoT technology strategy and emphasises that retailers interested in engaging the omni-channel consumer with consistent personalised and increasingly contextualised physical and digital interactions should consider how to build an architecture for IoT that will continue to adapt to consumer interaction patterns and needs. Meanwhile, technology vendors and consultants should help retail enterprises define and understand the IoT opportunities and the path forward.

To learn more about a related IoT report announced, please visit Business Strategy: IoT Use Cases for Retail

For additional information about this report or to arrange a one-on-one briefing with Leslie Hand please contact Sarah Murray at 781-378-2674 or sarah@attunecommunications.com. Reports are available to qualified members of the media. For information on purchasing reports, contact insights@idc.com; reporters should email sarah@attunecommunications.com.

RECENT ARTICLES

Get a US$50 Amazon voucher for sharing your IoT brand knowledge

Posted on: March 28, 2024

We want to know what you know about the IoT space. Just 3 minutes could earn you a US$50 Amazon digital gift card!

Read more

Enhance EV charging performance with cellular connectivity

Posted on: March 28, 2024

Electric vehicles (EVs) are steadily growing their market share at the expense of internal combustion engine vehicles. The growth is fuelled by several factors. Perhaps most importantly, prices for EVs have started to drop as competition in the industry is intensifying. New players and models are emerging, prompting several established EV makers to lower their

Read more
FEATURED IoT STORIES

What is IoT? A Beginner’s Guide

Posted on: April 5, 2023

What is IoT? IoT, or the Internet of Things, refers to the connection of everyday objects, or “things,” to the internet, allowing them to collect, transmit, and share data. This interconnected network of devices transforms previously “dumb” objects, such as toasters or security cameras, into smart devices that can interact with each other and their

Read more

The IoT Adoption Boom – Everything You Need to Know

Posted on: September 28, 2022

In an age when we seem to go through technology boom after technology boom, it’s hard to imagine one sticking out. However, IoT adoption, or the Internet of Things adoption, is leading the charge to dominate the next decade’s discussion around business IT. Below, we’ll discuss the current boom, what’s driving it, where it’s going,

Read more

9 IoT applications that will change everything

Posted on: September 1, 2021

Whether you are a future-minded CEO, tech-driven CEO or IT leader, you’ve come across the term IoT before. It’s often used alongside superlatives regarding how it will revolutionize the way you work, play, and live. But is it just another buzzword, or is it the as-promised technological holy grail? The truth is that Internet of

Read more

Which IoT Platform 2021? IoT Now Enterprise Buyers’ Guide

Posted on: August 30, 2021

There are several different parts in a complete IoT solution, all of which must work together to get the result needed, write IoT Now Enterprise Buyers’ Guide – Which IoT Platform 2021? authors Robin Duke-Woolley, the CEO and Bill Ingle, a senior analyst, at Beecham Research. Figure 1 shows these parts and, although not all

Read more

CAT-M1 vs NB-IoT – examining the real differences

Posted on: June 21, 2021

As industry players look to provide the next generation of IoT connectivity, two different standards have emerged under release 13 of 3GPP – CAT-M1 and NB-IoT.

Read more

IoT and home automation: What does the future hold?

Posted on: June 10, 2020

Once a dream, home automation using iot is slowly but steadily becoming a part of daily lives around the world. In fact, it is believed that the global market for smart home automation will reach $40 billion by 2020.

Read more

5 challenges still facing the Internet of Things

Posted on: June 3, 2020

The Internet of Things (IoT) has quickly become a huge part of how people live, communicate and do business. All around the world, web-enabled devices are turning our world into a more switched-on place to live.

Read more