Japanese company introduces checkout machines that scan and bag items automatically
OSAKA, Japan— Panasonic Corp. is introducing convenience-store checkout machines that can scan and bag items on their own, joining Amazon.com Inc. in the push for more retail automation.
In the Panasonic system, demonstrated here Monday, a special shopping basket is designed to detect the merchandise in the basket and calculate the bill. After a customer places the basket in a slot, the bottom of the basket slides out and the merchandise drops into a plastic bag underneath, ready to be carried away. Customers can pay with cash or a card.
The system “could bring a revolution to the broader retailing industry,” said Sadanobu Takemasu, chief operating officer of convenience-store chain Lawson Inc., which joined Panasonic on the project. “We all face a scarcity of labor.”
Panasonic is trying out the system in a Lawson store adjacent to its Osaka headquarters. For now, customers need to manually scan each item before putting it in their basket, but Panasonic said the system would be fully operational in February once electronic tags have been attached to each piece of merchandise.
Amazon last week released a video featuring a different automation concept called Amazon Go. The 1,800-square-foot store being tested by Amazon employees eliminates checkouts and cash registers altogether, instead having customers scan their phone as they walk in. The store is designed to determine automatically what items customers take from the shelves and charge their account when they leave.
Executives at Panasonic and Lawson said they didn’t want to eliminate employees from stores entirely. “Our store is also a point of communication for neighbors, where customers can enjoy chatting with clerks,” said Lawson’s Mr. Takemasu.
In addition, they said the Amazon system might have limited appeal in a country such as Japan, where cash is still used widely. “We need a good solution also for customers who wouldn’t like a completely digitalized system,” said Yasuyuki Fukui, a Panasonic business-development executive.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has said it expects employment of cashiers in the U.S. to grow by only 2% from 2014 to 2024, well below the predicted 7% growth in employment across all occupations and below the 5% forecast for retail-sales workers.
“While retail sales are expected to increase over the next decade, employment growth of cashiers should be limited due to advances in technology, such as self-service checkout stands in retail stores and increasing online sales,” it said in an occupational outlook report.
Many U.S. retailers and some in Japan already offer self-checkout, but the technology has struggled to spread because many customers don’t like it and some stores say it creates more problems than it solves. The cost of rolling out the new technology has been an additional barrier for many struggling operators.
Kaede Harada, a 20-year-old student shopping at Lawson on Monday, said she found the new machines a bit of a pain. “I still prefer the old method,” she said. Her friend, Aika Ito, also 20, had a more favorable impression, saying: “This is much faster, and it can prevent any payment mistakes by clerks.”
Though known for its television sets and home appliances sold to consumers, Panasonic is increasingly focusing on products for store owners, car makers and other corporate customers. The Lawson store in Osaka has become a showcase for Panasonic industrial products such as solar panels and energy-efficient lights.
The two companies plan to put the checkout machines in more Lawson stores later next year and in 2018.
Elsewhere, Panasonic has been ramping up its car business, buying component manufacturers and working with car makers on autonomous driving. Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors Inc. uses Panasonic lithium-ion batteries in its cars, and the two companies are building what they call a “gigafactory” in Nevada to boost battery production.
And Panasonic has invested in a Tokyo startup, Seven Dreamers Laboratories Inc., that is working on a laundry-folding robot. Seven Dreamers says it plans to start taking orders for the product next year.
By: Takashi Mochizuki
Source: The Wall Street Journal, December 2016