The Daiei supermarket chain has opened the nation¡¯s first store where shoppers can walk out with their groceries as an app automatically collects payment, replacing cash registers with a network of cameras and weight sensors.
The Catch & Go shop, which was developed in collaboration with major IT company NTT Data, opened Friday in Yokohama.
Hiroshi Yamauchi, the manager of Daiei¡¯s information technology planning department, said the store is located in an area with heavy foot traffic near Yokohama Station, with people rushing to get to school and work. That means a large base of potential customers seeking an efficient shopping experience.
¡°It¡¯s a service that matches the needs of these customers and, judging from our trial store, once customers get used to how convenient it is, they will become repeat shoppers,¡± Yamauchi said.
Similar to Amazon Go, which has been operated in the U.S. and U.K. since 2018, Catch & Go customers can collect the products they want to purchase and walk out of the store without having to wait in line at a register.
The technology behind the system ¡ª developed by NTT Data in collaboration with startup Cloudpick ¡ª is able to track what customers grab, even if goods are placed in bags, using a network of 35 cameras along with weight sensors on every shelf.
Customers scan a code on Daiei¡¯s app, also called Catch & Go, upon entering the store. When leaving, they are automatically charged through the app, which must be connected to a payment method in advance. If customers discover they were charged for a product in error, they can apply for a refund or contact Daiei staff via the app. With the current technology, a maximum of 12 people can shop at once without any errors.
The roughly 50-square-meter street-facing shop ¡ª which is laid out similarly to a convenience store and carries products including drinks, quick meals and snacks ¡ª opened inside a new Aeon mall, called CeeU Yokohama, which also opened the same day. There is a much larger Daiei supermarket inside the mall, which is responsible for restocking and maintaining the smaller outlet.
A Catch & Go store has been operating in a NTT Data building in Tokyo¡¯s Toyosu district since 2021, limited to the company¡¯s employees. The Yokohama branch is the first to be opened to the public. After evaluating the performance of the Yokohama shop, Daiei will consider adding more locations, Yamauchi said.
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