> Plus there’s no way this remote management stuff doesn’t cost at least $500/store in operating costs.

Going by the number of companies that still can't grasp having to pay for ongoing maintenance for and IoT system, even with CRA and NIS2, some still selling stuff running on 12+ year old software, I wouldn't expect them to pay much for this service or to even properly maintain it.

Don't compare it to the entire balance sheet, compare it to how much you'd have to pay someone to optimize it.

At $500/store/year times 1,000 stores, you can pay an entire team of experts for a year to come up with a way to save that money, and come out ahead. That team's manager can then go to their boss and say, look, I saved the company half a million dollars a year, and they'll get a nice bonus from it.