Evaluating the Readiness of Integrating loT into the South African Retail Industry

Abstract

As the world changes with technological innovation, the retail industry strives to keep up with emerging technologies to remain relevant in the market. Most industries are shifting towards a more automated environment framed by loT applications. Hence, the retail industry is not immune to these innovative applications in order to meet consumers' ever-changing needs and preferences. The South African retail industry is expected to upgrade its systems and advance to technologically advanced retail systems, which have already been implemented in various countries globally. With the implementation of loT technologies around the world, South African retailers are expected to follow suit with the new changes and face the challenges that may arise as a result of the implementation. loT technologies through digital transformation have been portrayed worldwide as an advantageous practice and competition-leveraging tool to promote business agility and capabilities, improve business processes, and, ultimately, enhance customer satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to assess the level of readiness of the South African retail industry when it comes to moving away from a conventional functional system to a system mainly dominated by advanced technology-based practices. This paper will also examine the specifics and challenges of adopting loT applications from the South African retail industry's standpoint. Hence, the analysis of the acquired results revealed that the South African retail's readiness still has ground to cover to execute loT integration, and this state is orchestrated by various factors.