IoT in Food Retail : New Technology, New Opportunities

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to induce a deeper and wider understanding of theimplications and the consequences of IoT and how it can affect wholesalers’ and retailers’opportunities to increase the value for their end customer.Design/Methodology/Approach: History and challenges of IoT as well as of the food retailindustry were studied, combined with interviews covering areas such as present challenges andtechnological adoption with 18 professionals from incumbent retailers, wholesalers, disrupters,industry and technical experts. Answers from interviews summarised, categorized and mappedtowards theories on technological transformation and synthesised into future estimations.Findings: The findings regard how IoT can increase the end customer value in the future valuechain of the food retail industry and key limitations and opportunities for its future developmentwithin the sector. The results concern areas such as online shopping and distribution,immigration and travelling, sustainability, stores and offers, technological adoption, internal ITstrategy, sharing of personal and corporate data, standardisation and traceability, customerexpectations and finally change in the customer offer.Practical implications: The study's practical value is related to its utility in explaining andpossibly forecasting the development of IoT applications within different sectors, allowingmanagers to capture value arising from technological changes.Originality/Value: This study offers a model to clarify and explain the impacts and challengesof the IoT within the food retail sector and is generalisable to other sectors and technologies.Paper type: Master thesi