RFID in Japan

On January 17, Mitsukoshi and Fujitsu announced that their RFID pilot test, dubbed "Future Store - Department Store Version," will take place from January 31 till February 13 at New York Runway, a store on the 2nd floor of Mitsukoshi Ginza Department Store. This pilot test is part of the "Japanese Future Store" project which is led by the government.

5,000 pairs of jeans will be RFID-tagged for the purpose of inventory management and improvement of services and operations. The tagged jeans will be put on "smart shelves," which will allow continuous monitoring of jeans on shelves as well as stock rooms. The smart shelves have electronic-paper displays so that customers can check up-to-date inventory information by themselves.

Also, the store has six "intelligent fitting rooms" that are equipped with large-screen IP phones and RFID readers. In these fitting rooms, customers can, for example, easily get information about the availability of different sizes. In addition, there will be touch-panel computers in the store. Customers use them to get product recommendations ("e-recommendation") as well as detailed product information.

Moreover, Mitsukoshi will provide an experimental mobile "concierge" service using active RFID tags and mobile phones in order to uncover the possibilities (and limitations) of future store services. When customers carrying active RFID tags enter the store, their historical information (past visits to the store as well as purchase histories) is displayed on the mobile devices of sales agents. If customers want to interact with sales agents, they can push a button on the tag to call them.

via japan.internet.com, January 17, 2006 < Yamada desu

also, fujitsu press release

Posted by konomi at January 18, 2006 01:14 AM | TrackBack