Over 1 Million Indoor Location Retail Deployments by 2020

​ABI Research’s quarterly indoor location database has forecast well over 1 million indoor location retail deployments by 2020, with BLE beacons now established as the key building block for indoor location.

“What is really interesting is how rapidly beacons are spreading into all 11 retail / venue verticals covered in the database, in particular QSR (CAGR 84.4%) and convenience stores (CAGR 47.1%) are two of the fastest growing verticals over the forecast period. ABI Research has forecast some major chain-wide deployments over the next 12 months, but there will also be huge growth in key verticals like Grocery, Big Box, and Malls,” comments Principal Analyst Patrick Connolly.

Total BLE beacon shipments are now expected to approach 200 million by 2020 as verticals like connected home, personal tracking, and corporate / industrial take hold. “The arrival of URI Beacons is expected to have a big impact on these verticals. As the database expands coverage into new verticals over the year, there is potential for this number to grow significantly.”

Other indoor location technologies such as Wi-Fi, audio / ultrasound and small cells / LTE are also still viable. Connolly adds, “Ultrasound is far more than just shopkick. With the emergence of proximity advertising networks such as Shazam, etc., and competitive technology solutions from companies like Sonic360 and Perples, ultrasound is a vital and necessary companion technology given the limited reach of iBeacons in the short term as BLE penetration and app integration continues to grow on smartphones. As a result, it is forecast to be the second most deployed technology in 2015.”

“Wi-Fi has faced a difficult 12 months, but ABI Research is still forecasting very strong growth for indoor location deployments. Major access point OEMs like Cisco, Zebra, Ruckus, and Aruba are being joined by Nomi, iSign, SPREO, Swirl, and inMarket in offering hybrid Wi-Fi / BLE solutions; with hybridization a key trend from 2016 onwards. Pure play Wi-Fi start-ups like AllUnite and Euclid are building up an impressive list of clients. With high accuracy Wi-Fi solutions now becoming available at low cost the ability to leverage the huge installed base of access points in retail becomes essential.”

These findings are part of ABI Research’s Location Technologies Market Research.

ABI Research provides technology market research and technology intelligence for industry innovators. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 70+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.