In 2018, the retail IoT market in Asia-Pacific generated a revenue of $1.72 billion, and it is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 24.8% from 2018 to 2025 to reach $10.00 billion in 2025. This growth insight discusses market size in terms of spending across key application areas such as WiFi-based analytics, video and other senor-based analytics, facial/behavioral analytics, proximity marketing, augmented panels and signage, navigational services, checkout and ordering, dynamic pricing, inventory/asset tracking, and automated stocking/audits. As traditional retailers turn to IoT solutions to draw footfall back to physical stores with enhanced customer experiences, the market will expand rapidly. IoT solutions will help traditional retailers emulate e-commerce practices, including flash discounts, reviews, recommendations (opportunities to upsell and cross sell), personalization options and, effectively, limitless merchandise. Analytics solutions that help automate laborious tasks, including people counting, planogram audits, and merchandise tracking, will experience high uptake due to their readily perceivable return on investment (ROI). While the hype around proximity marketing has reduced in recent years, retailers are now experimenting with more immersive forms of marketing such as digital signage and smart shelves. With retailers increasingly adopting video-based applications, this has significant implications for the underlying digital infrastructure that solution providers will need to build for their customers. Asia-Pacific has seen chronic labor shortages in some regions, a proliferation of end-to-end retail IoT solutions, massive IoT investments by e-commerce giants, and the scaling of cashless payment systems - all of which prompt an increasing number of retailers to take the first step in terms of adopting IoT solutions. However, the low cost of labor in other markets, the high cost of solutions, cybersecurity-related concerns, and ROI-related uncertainties restrain retailers from investing in retail IoT solutions. Hence, solution providers must be clear about the business outcomes (better inventory management, improved asset tracking, and more effective in-store promotion, among others) that they seek to help retailers achieve before they deploy an IoT solution. Retailers, in turn, must conduct a realistic examination of their own capability and technology gaps to seek partners that can help them plug these gaps and achieve the stated business outcomes. In particular, Frost & Sullivan notes opportunities for (1) Platform providers to leverage sensor data to enable brick and mortar retailers to enact dynamic pricing models that can potentially rival those of their online competitors, (2) IoT solution providers to enable retailers to create experiential retail environments that can draw more customers to stores and increase their dwell time and (3) Video surveillance camera OEMs to leverage video analytics solutions to extend their retail offerings and allow retailers to combine shopper analytics and store security investments.

Author: Deepu Nair