LONDON /BUSINESS WIRE/ -- Indoor location is perfectly positioned to save the retail industry's burning platform: bricks and mortar. Major U.S. retail brands will all launch indoor location technologies in 2012 and 2013 to enable advances in customer analytics, store optimization, proximity advertising, couponing, and CRM. Competition is vicious, with over 30 big name IC vendors, startups, carriers, handset OEMs, and infrastructure providers (e.g., Wi-Fi, small cell, and DAS) all fighting to win this space. While Google and other industry giants loom large, retailers will want to maintain control of in-store data, advertising, and CRM. As a result, startups and infrastructure providers will see significant success. Carriers will also have a role to play, particularly with the onset of small cells.
Competition is emerging between handset-based and dedicated infrastructure-based approaches. Ultimately, both have a role to play, depending on the application. Research forecasts over 200,000 installations of infrastructure equipment by 2017, across Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, with over 800 million branded application downloads.
Senior analyst, Patrick Connolly, states, "Revenues will come from multiple sources, including advertising, infrastructure deployments/service fees, and application management. However, analytics is the area best placed for initial uptake, representing the path of least resistance. Long term, advertising will play a major part, with in-store offers/couponing representing over 40% of revenues in 2017."
ABI Research's report "Indoor Location Technology" illustrates the uptake of a variety of indoor location technologies (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, audio, small cell/cellular, DAS, NFC, sensors, etc.) across key vertical markets (airports, stadiums, food and grocery, dining/beverage, large retail, hotels, etc.). It is part of ABI Research's Location Platforms and Enablers Research Service.
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