Zippin’s original, proprietary store in San Francisco
Tokyo-based Fujitsu and San Francisco-based Zippin announced a new partnership that names Fujitsu as an exclusive distributor of Zippin’s checkout-free solution in Japan.
Zippin’s checkout-free technology enables retailers to quickly deploy frictionless shopping in their stores, using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and sensor fusion technology to create the best consumer experience, sans checkout lines and self-scanners.
Fujitsu is Zippin’s first exclusive distributor in any market and will start offering Zippin’s checkout-free solution by March 2021, with the aim of creating a new AI smart store business for the micro market. In the future, the partners will further strengthen their cooperation and consider expansion in geographies outside Japan. The agreement was concluded after a successful field trial Fujitsu and Zippin conducted with the Lawson convenience store chain in Japan earlier this year.
Check out a video of the technology at a Lawson store here.
“Since February 2020, Fujitsu and Zippin have been participating in POC conducted by Lawson Inc.,” said Kunitsugu Makino, Deputy Senior Vice President, General Manager, Open Innovation Center of Lawson. “Based on the results of the POC, Lawson has been working with the two parties to identify business and technical issues. With this POC, we are confident with its potential and are looking forward to greatly expanding our partnership with them. In today’s rapidly changing environment, a checkout-free store that can eliminate face-to-face payment, well reflects the needs of the recent situation. We expect the collaboration of Fujitsu and Zippin will infuse new breath into the retail industry.”
The partnership enables Fujitsu to build a new retail solution to deliver a new customer experience by September 2021, leveraging Zippin’s checkout-free SaaS platform, with a focus on cashier-free, cashless operations to save staff time and increase their bandwidth — of particular importance during the pandemic.
Features may include identity verification with multi-biometric authentication. The combined technological expertise of Fujitsu and Zippin will accelerate the digital transformation of any retail store.
“We are committed to providing new value to the retail industry and are thrilled to have Zippin’s advanced technology and expertise powering our solution,” said Hirohisa Yamaguchi, CEO and Head of Finance & Retail Solution Business Group of Fujitsu. “We will continue to proactively partner with best-in-class startup companies in order to accelerate digital transformation for not only Japan, but for the global retail industry.”
There is growing demand for new purchasing experiences and service styles in retail stores as retailers navigate the increasing pervasiveness of cashless transactions, address labor shortages, and embrace a “new normal” that demands safety for essential workers and shoppers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through this collaboration, Fujitsu and Zippin will accelerate retail digital transformation in-store and provide innovative services to consumers by leveraging Fujitsu’s strong customer base and integration. The combination of digital technologies, such as multi-biometric authentication developed by Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. and Zippin’s global experience in implementing AI-based checkout-free solutions, will be a powerful offering for the Japanese market.
“We are tremendously excited about our partnership with Fujitsu,” said Krishna Motukuri, co-founder and CEO of Zippin. “Zippin’s technology has attracted a lot of attention from U.S., European, Asian companies. We chose Fujitsu as our reseller partner because they are a highly trusted general ICT vendor and we are confident that Fujitsu will drive the market forward in Japan.”
