IoT-Enabled Connected Retail Market to Reach $53 Billion by 2022

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Retailers are poised to massively increase their technology investments over the next several years.

They will help the worldwide connected retail market reach $53.75 billion by 2022, nearly a fivefold increase over the $11.17 billion they spent in 2014, predicts Grand View Research, an San Francisco-based analyst firm. As with the IT industry in general, the Internet of Things (IoT) will help move things along.

Grand View Research expects that increased adoption of IoT technologies among retailers will spark increased growth in hardware sensors, communications chips and software.

The Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) segment of the market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23 percent over the forecast period as merchants increasingly use the technology to manage their inventory and monitor customer behavior. Seeking power-sipping solutions for their IoT deployments, retailers will help Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) notch a CAGR of over 25 percent. Meanwhile, the software segment will expand at CAGR of nearly 24 percent, predicted the research group.

Managed services providers, which took home 40 percent of the market’s revenues in 2014, will continue to attract a big business.

“Implementing these services reduces the IT costs and enables retailers to gain the technical advantage,” noted Grand View Research in a statement. “Retailers are increasingly outsourcing services to reduce risks and focus on its core competencies.” Providers of remote device management services can expect business to pick up at a CAGR of nearly 24 percent as retailers deploy more IoT devices.

Expect IoT security spending to increase as a result.

“As IoT in retail is gaining momentum, retailers are constantly facing rising data security threats. Therefore, to manage the expanding data base, managed service providers invest heavily in data protection, security, and disaster recovery solutions,” stated the firm.

Last summer, business research firm MarketsandMarkets forecast that the market for IoT security solutions would reach $29 billion by 2020 from an estimated $6.89 billion last year, expanding at a CAGR of 33.2 percent.

North America will take the lead, raking in over 35 percent of connected retail market revenues. The U.S., with its aggressive IoT infrastructure build-out projects, will emerge as a leader. The Asia Pacific region, particularly China and India, will lead in terms of growth, expanding their portion of the market at a CAGR of 25 percent.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Datamation. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.