Trial, opening of smart store with "AI refrigerated showcase", etc.: The "cutting edge" in the company's history
On October 28, TRIAL COMPANY (Fukuoka City) under the umbrella of TRIAL HOLDINGS introduced IoT equipment and AI technology to provide a new purchasing experience and enable efficient operation of the "Super Center Trial Miyata store” (Miyawaka City, Fukuoka Prefecture). In addition to the self-developed "smart shopping cart", 18 "AI refrigerated showcases", which are the first to be installed in the store, are installed, and it is explained that it is equipped with the most advanced equipment in the company's history.
Opening of the Supercenter Trial Miyata store (from the press release below)The store is an urban development centered on retail DX promoted through industry-government-academia collaboration, which was announced in July 2021. Opened as a place for demonstration experiments of the Remote Work Town Musbu Miyawaka project. We will proceed with demonstration experiments of retail tech and IoT devices developed by "Trial IoT Lab", a device development center such as smart shopping carts, and "MUSUBU AI", which creates retail AI mechanisms jointly with business partners.
Trial IoT Lab
About 200 self-developed "smart shopping carts", about 200 "retail AI cameras", and about 120 "digital signage" will be installed in the store. In addition, 18 “AI refrigerated showcases” equipped with AI cameras and sensors were installed.
The AI refrigerated showcase uses AI cameras and sensors to replace the shortage of products visually checked by staff. In addition, to make it easier for foreign staff who are not good at Japanese to understand intuitively, we installed LEDs on the case so that you can tell when an item is out of stock depending on the color.
Sharing status of out-of-stock items by colorIn addition, about 5,000 "smart shopping carts" are in operation at 47 stores nationwide, and customers can scan barcodes with the attached scanner. After passing through the gate, cashless accounting is completed. In addition to significantly shortening the time spent waiting at the cash register, the company says it will also save labor in store operations.
In addition, the tablet terminal attached to the cart is equipped with a function that displays recommendations according to the scanned product and distributes coupons that can be used on the spot.
In addition, we have introduced "retail AI cameras" and "digital signage" that monitor product shelves and analyze customer flow lines to optimize operations.
According to the company, approximately 80% of purchases made at physical stores are "unplanned purchases" that involve purchasing products that were not planned before entering the store. Therefore, the company uses these technologies to promote the matching of products and customers under the theme of "mediaizing real stores." We aim to improve the shopping experience.