Wearable technology will significantly impact the supermarket supply-chain industry in 2016, as products such as smart watches and head-mounted displays become more advanced and widespread.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) experts Linkfresh told SupplyChainDigital.com that the increased demand to view business indicators on mobile devices as well as falling prices in this category mean that the trend towards wearable technology in supply-chain management will continue in 2016.
“Wearable technology and the use of cloud software will become much more widespread across the industry in 2016. The ability to access and input data in real time is the key way in which suppliers will be able to meet the stringent demands of supermarkets," said Richard Jones, chief technology officer at Linkfresh.
The falling prices of technology mean that the bar for entry into cloud technology has been significantly lowered, according to Jones.
“Supermarkets are pushing suppliers harder than ever, a situation which looks certain to continue throughout the coming year. Dealing with this pressure is the biggest challenge the industry faces.”
Statistics portal Statista.com predicts that wearable technology's market value will rise to $12.6 billion by 2018.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by John Golden. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
