While I don't really see the use case for private individuals, IoT technology is very interesting on the factory floor. Tracking parts and getting sensor data from all kinds of machines is quite useful.
Yeah I don't really buy the retail argument for IOT, but for large organizations it can make a ton of sense. I previously worked for a company [0] that did remote sensors for water meters - they saved a fortune on sending out technicians to read the meter, and avoided all the problems with usage estimations.
Why do you think that private individuals wouldn't also benefit from being able to track things? I'm quite forgetful so being able to track my possessions would be quite useful to me.
[0] - http://www.taggle.com.au/