Panasonic Automates the Checkout

New checkout machines can scan and bag items automatically.

December 13, 2016

OSAKA, Japan – The Wall Street Journal writes that Panasonic Corp. is hoping to change convenience stores with a machine that scans and bags merchandise “in the push for retail automation.”

The new convenience-store checkout machines “can scan and bag items on their own, joining Amazon.com Inc. in the push for more retail automation,” reports the Journal. The system works by using a special shopping basket designed to detect merchandise 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.”

Sadanobu Takemasu, COO of c-store chain Lawson Inc., which joined Panasonic on the project, told the news source that the new checkout system “could bring a revolution to the broader retailing industry,” adding, “We all face a scarcity of labor.”

Executives at Panasonic and Lawson commented to the Journal that they are not looking to eliminate humans from the workforce. “Our store is also a point of communication for neighbors, where customers can enjoy chatting with clerks,” Takemasu said.

The executives added that Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology and c-store concept could have limited appeal in a country like Japan, where cash is still widely accepted. “We need a good solution also for customers who wouldn’t like a completely digitalized system,” Yasuyuki Fukui, a Panasonic business-development executive, told the Journal.

Lawson and Panasonic are planning to add the automated checkout machines at more Lawson convenience stores later in 2017 and in 2018.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement