Lawson opened an experimental high-tech convenience store in Tokyo on Monday, aiming to improve operational efficiency and collect data.
The new store ¡ª Real x Tech Lawson ¡ª is designed to test a range of technologies, including robotics, digital signs and artificial intelligence.
¡°We hope to make this tech convenience store a standard for society,¡± Lawson CEO Sadanobu Takemasu said at a news conference.
The tech-powered Lawson is located in Linkpillar 1 North at Takanawa Gateway City. The building is also the new headquarters of KDDI, which owns 50% of Lawson.
KDDI and Lawson have said that they will utilize KDDI¡¯s tech expertise to improve the convenience store experience.
The new store features a robot that partially automates the cooking of Kara-age Kun fried chicken, a Lawson favorite. It also features a floor cleaning robot.
Digital panels are installed throughout the shop to display information about products, recommended items and local events.
A self-checkout system is equipped with a display that shows a 3D avatar of a real Lawson employee. They can remotely handle checkout when a customer needs help.
The store will also gather data, such as the workload of employees and stocking levels, with tags and cameras, so that AI agents can advise on how to improve operations.
While KDDI and Lawson said they hope to increase the number of tech-powered convenience stores, they did not offer specific targets, saying that they want to see how the experiment at the new store goes.
¡°We want to identify what will work and what won¡¯t at this store,¡± said KDDI CEO Hiromichi Matsuda.
In February last year, KDDI announced a ?500 billion investment in Lawson to leverage the chain¡¯s nationwide retail network and customer base.
As Lawson has about 14,700 convenience stores in Japan, the purchase significantly increases physical touch points for KDDI.
KDDI began to purchase Lawson stock in 2019 when it bought 2.1% of the convenience store¡¯s equity.
The telecom company now owns Lawson together with Mitsubishi Corp. The general trading company holds the other 50% of the stock.
Given that convenience store chains are facing intense competition in recent years, especially from drug stores that sell daily goods, Lawson aims to utilize technology to better compete.
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