• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, September 5, 2016

Part of the appeal of the Internet of Things is that it will make some things easier for consumers.

Some of that convenience will come in the form of things being bought and even delivered automatically.

Printer companies including HP and Brother already sell printers that connect to the network so that ink supply can be monitored remotely. When ink is running low, new cartridges are mailed to printer owners before a particular cartridge runs dry.

The consumer makes this decision when they buy the printer, by entering pre-payment information, and from there all the ordering and delivering is automated, thanks to the smart printing technology.

Automated purchasing involves devices making purchases on behalf of consumers who pre-program the devices to automatically buy for them when the time and opportunity arises.

Now a new study has taken a stab at measuring how many people may be interested in such a process and it appears many are warming to the idea.

The majority (57%) of consumers say they will be ready for automated purchasing within two years and 13% are ready now, according to the study based on a survey of 2,000 U.K. adults conducted by Censuswide for Salmon, the WPP digital commerce consultancy.

More than a third (35%) say they are already using smart technology at home or plan to do so.

There are certain categories that are better than others in terms of what consumers will automate. Here are the product types consumers are most comfortable with automating ordering:

• 54% -- Household supplies
• 54% -- Food and drink
• 34% -- Beauty, healthcare, personal hygiene

The attitude toward automated purchasing differs by age group, according to the survey.

About a third (32%) of those 25 to 34 years old are totally comfortable with the idea and 55% would be willing to pay a fee for it.

Conversely, only 7% of those 55 to 64 years old are comfortable with it and 77% of them would not pay a fee to do it.

The coming twist in all of this are the issues of brand loyalty and customer acquisition.

When the purchasing of items is automated at the beginning, such as in automatically purchasing ink from a printer company or detergent from a CPG brand, how does a supplier of a competing product enter what becomes a closed pipeline directly from brand manufacturer to consumers?

And then there’s the question of how loyal a customer is to a particular brand whose products automatically show up when needed and whether the actual benefit perceived is simply that the product shows up just before it’s needed.

Automated purchasing can make life easier for many consumers while handing some interesting challenges over to marketers.