Uniqlo’s Parent Company Bets Big on Tiny RFID Chips
Wall Street Journal, April 2023 — Next-generation self-checkout machines are part of a broader effort to improve the supply chain with radio technology, Fast Retailing CIO Takahiro Tambara says
At Uniqlo’s Fifth Avenue store in New York, shoppers can checkout simply by placing their goods in gleaming bins of automated stations. Unlike the self-checkout process at many stores, customers of the casual apparel retailer don’t need to scan individual items or look up prices on a screen—they can simply drop their items in a bin and pay.
This next-generation process is powered by radio frequency identification readers inside the checkout machines, which automatically read hidden RFID chips embedded in price tags. It is the strategy of Takahiro Tambara, chief information officer of Japan-based Uniqlo’s parent company, Fast Retailing Co., Asia’s top clothing retailer. Mr. Tambara set out on a mission several years ago to transform the way customers shop in its bricks-and-mortar stores, which are still key to the company’s business model even as more commerce moves online.
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