Evaluation of Subscription-based Sales of IoT-enabled Consumer Devices

With the dissemination of IoT-enabled devices, innovative services are being provided that have not been possible before. One possible example is the subscription-based sales of IoT devices. Collected data can be used to improve consumer service as well as device manufacturer’s SCM. However, it will not be widely deployed unless the benefit is clear to both consumer and manufacturer. This study assumes a subscription-based sales of IoT device and quantifies its benefits by using an agent-based simulation. This study also evaluates factors that affect benefit of the service to find the preferable situations of the sales. The result of this study is valuable when companies decide whether they should start a subscription service or not.