Panasonic and Alipay Japan to test automated shops at Kansai airport
※This is a machine-translated text of the original article.
Alipay Japan, Kansai Airport, and Panasonic Corp will conduct demonstration tests of product sales using showcases with cashless settlement functions in the international gate area of the Kansai International Airport Terminal 1 from 24 to 30 January 2020.
With the increase in the number of foreign visitors to Japan, the number of passengers at Kansai International Airport has been growing at a record pace, with a particularly large number of passengers from China.
As a result, stores in the international gates sometimes take longer than expected to shop due to crowding.
In this demonstration experiment, two Panasonic showcases (inner box type, image recognition type) each corresponding to the QR code settlement of Alipay(∗1), one of China’s leading settlement services, will be piloted within the international line gate area of Kansai International Airport to sell Japanese sweets, which are particularly popular among Chinese travelers.
Inner box-type showcase by Panasonic.
Image recognition-type showcase by Panasonic.
It will be implemented during the Lunar New Year holiday season, when the number of Chinese passengers is increasing, to verify convenience for cashless purchases of souvenirs and performance of showcases as automated shops.
The showcases used in this experiment also have a refrigeration function, and the company intends to continue examining demonstration tests for products that require refrigeration.
※ 1 Alipay: The payment and lifestyle platform provided by Ant Financial Services Group.
Original Text: https://ampmedia.jp/2020/01/24/alipay/