Commentary
50% Of Everyday, Essential Products Heading To IoT Auto Replenishment
- by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, December 21, 2016
The Internet of Things involves automating many things but it also involves activities initiated by those connected things.
One of those activities involves the automated buying of things, such as household supplies.
For example, when my HP printer is running low on ink, HP mails me new cartridges in advance. Since the printer is on the network and I signed up for automatic ink replenishment when I bought it, HP does the work of tracking when I will need ink, saving me a trip to the local Staples.
Amazon Dash is a rudimentary form of this, allowing the ordering of a single, pre-programmed item, such as a box of Tide from Amazon with the touch of the Wi-Fi enabled button.
More of this automated ordering of household supplies will be embedded inside smart home gadgets.
Within four years, 50% of everyday essential household consumable products will be auto replenished from the connected home through the Internet of Things, according to Gartner.
By that time, Gartner estimates the global smart home market will grow to near $60 billion and family homes in ‘a mature, affluent market’ could contain several hundred smart objects, with brands and retailers already beginning to take part in auto replenishment initiates.
Hundreds of smart, connected objects in a house automatically ordering things: what could possibly go wrong?
Chuck Martin is Editor of the AI & IoT Daily at MediaPost and writes the daily Connected Thinking column. He is a NY Times Business bestselling author and his latest book is “Digital Transformation 3.0” (The New Business-to-Consumer Connections of The Internet of Things.) He is CEO of Net Future Institute and a frequent keynote speaker internationally. Follow him on Twitter @chuckmartin and contact him at Chuck@MediaPost.com.
when a vendor needs more sales, they will just send you extra stuff, then you will spend lots of time trying to correct the inventory, and you'll eventually just keep the extra order. And if you're this friggin lazy, who you going to trust that the prices are correct, so you'll be spending your time auditing all your streamline purchases. STUPID PEOPLE!!
Another way to view it Mark, is that CPG companies could more accurately forecast sales, especially once a consumer is 'locked in' to certain products, such as the case with my HP printer cartridges.
This is wishful thinking. And Gartner is no stranger to wishful thinking. Sure seems like more "there's got to be SOMETHING we can make out of IoT" desperation.
The scoop seems to be...there are a few things where this might work - high volumes and especially in businesses. But having control of stocking our lives is important to many.
And I'm a recent Nespresso convert... But I have NO interest in them tracking how many cups I've made so they can auto-refill. From experience, I'm expecting that 70% to 80% of the population agrees.
Amazon loves dangling things like their buttons... But there's no evidence they've mattered (and it's part of Amazon's conjurer act - look at these pretty ordering buttons so you don't see that we're continuing to lose massive amounts of money on retail-equivalent online sales.)...
(Channeling my IoT Scrooge... Sorry. :-)
Points well taken, Doug, but these capabilities are being built in to appliances down the road. Whether consumers adopt the behavior is yet to be seen.