RFID Predicted As “Killer App” – 03/31/2017
According to a new Juniper Research report, IoT in Retail: Strategies for Customer Experience, Engagement & Optimization 2017-2021, retailers will connect 12.5 Billion business assets, such as products, digital signs and Bluetooth beacons, to IoT platforms by 2021, rising from 2.7 Billion in 2016, representing a 350% increase.
In addition, Juniper predicts that RFID (radio-frequency identification), will re-emerge as the industry’s ‘killer app,’ becoming the key factor in the IoT retail ecosystem, says the report. RFID tags, used to identify and locate retail assets in real-time, are now at a low enough price point for mass deployment, and integrate well with new IoT systems and analytics. New services, such as dynamic pricing or enabling promotional offers via in-store digital signs are also poised for growth, says the report.