Indiegogo and Target bring crowdfunded IoT products to retail
Crowd-funding site Indiegogo and Target have teamed up to allow inventors to display their “smart home” products in-store so that users can see the product before they fund it. Indiegogo found that some of their entrepreneurs lacked the appropriate outlets to showcase their products, which is where Target comes in by offering crowdfunders the chance to showcase their prototypes at its Open House connected-home experience. Open House is Target’s experimental smart home concept store in San Francisco, which opened earlier this year, and focusses on Internet of Things connected smart home products.

Indiegogo is partnering with Target (its second retail deal this week) in an effort to bring selectproducts from its online campaigns to retail.

Crowdfunding campaigns are a great way for inventors and makers to bring their ideas to life. In the event of a successfully funded campaign, what usually happens is the project creator ships out the "reward" to backers then puts said product up for sale on their website.

Without the publicity of a crowdfunding campaign, however, it can be difficult to further spread the word and drive traffic to your site.

The partnership with Target is a small step towards retail availability for Indiegogo campaign creators. I say small because the partnership is initially limited to Open House, Target's experimental smart home concept store in San Francisco that opened earlier this year.

The Internet of Things and connected smart homes in general are still a very new concept. Manufacturers, consumers and retailers alike are still trying to figure out what works, what doesn't and what changes should be made to a product, its connectivity or their overall strategy. The Target Open House addresses all of these issues in addition to giving consumers a place to try out the smart home gadgets they've seen on Indiegogo and elsewhere.

The first devices participating in the program include the Oomi smart home system (the highest funded smart home system on any crowdfunding platform), the Nanoleaf voice-controlled lighting system and the Butterfleye wireless home monitoring camera.

For inventors of smart home gadgets, the partnership offers yet another reason to select Indiegogo over the competition. There's no guarantee that a hit smart home product will make it to the Open House as Target has the final say over which products it selects for showcasing but at least the possibility exists.

Lead image courtesy Engadget