Lawson Inc. will trial a cashier-free system at a Tokyo outlet in February, allowing customers to pick up items for purchase and simply exit the store without going through a checkout.
The major convenience store operator plans to hold the verification test at an outlet in a Tokyo office building that can be accessed only by people who work at firms in the building, it said. The firm plans to open its first cashier-free store in Tokyo in summer on the basis of the verification test.
The move is designed to ease the burdens on store employees and address the labor shortage in the convenience store industry.
In the checkout-free system, Lawson will identify customers by using biometric recognition, such as from facial images and vein patterns registered in advance.
When a customer picks up items and leaves the store, the transaction is automatically completed via a registered credit card or smartphone application. A camera installed on the ceiling and weight sensors on shelves identify the products picked up by customers.
Lawson, however, will have staff even at such cashier-free outlets.
With the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games being held in summer next year, Lawson hopes to open outlets of this kind near Games venues, which are expected to draw lots of spectators from all over the world, it said.
Lawson is also considering the introduction of robots to help store staff restock items, cook food and clean stores.
The company hopes to start testing the robotic technology at some of its outlets as early as 2020, it said. It also envisions robots being used to remove items from shelves that are nearing their expiration dates.
"We'd like to make our store operations more efficient and convenient by opening cashierless outlets," Lawson President Sadanobu Takemasu said in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.
There has been an increase in the number of stores with checkout-free systems the world over, with even Amazon.com opening a chain of Amazon Go checkout-free stores in the United States.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
