Strategizing In-store retail experience with IoT for Gen Z: Retail 4.0

The accelerated development of Internet and communication has led to the emergence of a new era of the IoT in various industries. Amongst all the industries and sectors in India, retail is the most rapidly growing sector. It contributes about 10 percent of India’s GDP. In today’s business world, one of the major challenges that marketers are witnessing is addressing the needs of new generation consumers. This challenge is also faced by the retailers, since the majority of Gen Z individuals are so comfortable with technology that they only prefer online modes of shopping and are also referred to as E-loyal consumers. In order to attract this generation of consumers to offline retail stores, use of IoT in brick and mortar stores becomes significant. Thus, the current research evaluates the use of IoT in In-store retail and also searches for ways of improving the In-store retail experience and making it suitable to attract the Generation Z consumers. Major findings reveal that a more percentage of Generation Z consumers prefer online mode of shopping. Convenience, Ease of use & Tracking systems are the primary reasons for using online platforms. Thus, in this paper various ways of using IoT to enhance these three areas in In-store retail are explored.