We have just completed first-ever study of the Internet of Things (IoT). In fact, because it has become such a broadly-used buzzword in the retail industry, we first had to define what we even meant for the context in which it was used during for the project. We framed our questions with the 138 qualified retailers who took our survey as collections of networked sensors that impact operations – not consumer-facing technologies like smart refrigerators, home security systems, dishwashers or other appliances. 

Here are just a few of the highlights of what they told us:

• Historically, IoT has been presented as a solution for cost challenges – in preventive maintenance scenarios, for example. However, within the Business Challenges section of our research, retailers firmly rejected the challenges related to cost or margin in favor of the challenges related to growth – specifically, responding to consumer challenges that might hinder growth.
• One of the most startling outcomes we found is survey respondents’ professed interest in both connecting with consumers via their personal internet-enabled devices like smartphones, watches, or appliances, as well as offering new services to consumers based on consumer-driven data from those IoT-based devices. To enable these kinds of services, retailers say they’ll need a whole new data structure for their business.
• Despite their optimism, retailers face significant internal challenges before they’ll be able to leverageany of the opportunities they perceive from the Internet of Things. Indeed, it’s hard to take advantage of a new technology when 53% of retailers say their business leadership doesn’t even understand what it is. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
• But Retail Winners believe virtually every component of their enterprise stands to gain from next-gen IoT technologies. In fact, within the Technology Enablerssection of the study, we find compelling evidence that Winners are already poised to get a serious leg up on their competitors.

If you’re interested in reading the numbers behind these broad strokes, you can download the full report by following this link.