Fast Retailing, Asia’s biggest apparel business and parent company of Uniqlo, is betting on barcode-less checkouts, vast data collection and other technologies to reach its target of 10 trillion yen (S$86 billion) in annual sales.
The time-saving method, which can tally up purchases at one go due to radio-frequency chips embedded within each item’s price tag, is the brainchild of the company’s chief information officer Takahiro Tambara. It is the kind of innovation he is planning to introduce into every step of the company’s supply chain and sales operations.
Fast Retailing, which also owns GU, Theory and other brands, is riding a wave of consumer demand for simple, casual styles. Its second stab at overseas expansion in Western markets is going much better than its first about a decade ago, when it had to close stores from a lack of brand recognition.
Source: Bloomberg