Target Just Opened a Space to Show Customers the Beauty of the Internet of Things

With the Internet of Things poised to define our future, one of the nation’s biggest retailers wants to bring connected home devices squarely into the present.

Adjacent to one of its San Francisco stores, Target has unveiled Open House, a 3,500 square-foot venture that the company describes as “part retail space, part lab, part meeting venue for the connected home tech community.”

Open House will vend 35 connected home products in total -- including the August smart door lock; Ring, a smart doorbell; Nest and Sonos, a wireless home audio system -- only a third of which are currently available in traditional Target stores.

In a shrewd move, the experiential store is designed just like a home -- outfitted entirely with see-through acrylic furniture -- in order to show consumers how such technology might fit into their everyday lives. For instance, “visitors can see how a baby’s stirring prompts soothing music on the sound system and a pot of joe brewing in the kitchen,” according to Target.

Going forward, the space will also host tech talks, industry meetups and product demos and launches, Target said. Open House could also help Target decide which connected home products to carry in-store, as well as which experiential retail strategies to implement in the future.

“We know [the Internet of Things] is going to generate huge value,” said Casey Carl, Target’s chief strategy and innovation officer, in a statement. “We’re using Open House to test the trend, both for us and for guests.”