The Season Of Giving IoT Makeover

What the IoT Shopping Shakeup Means for Retail Trends and Tech Gifts.

- Tyler Anneliese Moselle

Today’s Retail Environment 

When checking off gifts from your shopping list this holiday season, where do you turn? 2016 brings us a whole new world of retail, and a slew of smarter gifts that our great-grandparents could have never imagined.

While after two decades, e-commerce has far less hurdles in terms of limited online sales, high delivery costs, competitions, and more. In 2014, U.S. Internet sales had grown 18 percent over 15 years and hit $300 billion. That being said, International Council of Shopping Centers estimates that 91 percent of holiday shoppers anticipate spending money in a physical store in 2016—$683 on average for each individual shopper, to be precise. 

The bottom line is: retail is still very much alive and kicking, albeit in a very brave new world.

According to the Consumer Technology Association, 68 percent of U.S. adults have their hearts set on purchasing more tech gifts this year than ever before.

With consumer credit on the rise, 170 million people are on the hunt for savvy gifts for their loved ones, over a quarter of which are planning to buy wearables.

The Internet of Things isn’t only altering our gift options, it’s changing every aspect of the way we shop. According to a Think with Google report, over 50 percent of holiday shoppers said they were open to purchasing from new retailers.

Thanks to an easily discoverable plethora of shopping choices, perusing catalogs or window shopping is quickly being replaced by mobile search.

“We continue to see positive consumer spending intentions ahead of the holiday season, with an emphasis on shopping in physical stores,” Tom McGee, the ICSC’s President and CEO, shared.