Working with Fujitsu, California-based Zippin has built a checkout-free hotel store in Yokohama, Japan.

Fujitsu worked with Koyo Group to implement the checkout-free store in the Yokohama Techno Tower Hotel. It is the first store in Japan open to the general public to use biometric authentication technology to verify customers’ identities.

With this partnership, the store operator is keeping shoppers and workers safe during the pandemic with a cashierless checkout, eliminating stress of queues and wait times, and raising customer satisfaction by optimising the product line.

The grab-and-go Green Leaves Plus store, which sells pre-packaged food and beverages as well as fresh Bento box meals, opened this year as a pilot. Shoppers enter the store using smartphone app after first registering their credit-card information. They enter the store with the QR code displayed on the Green Leaves Plus app.

Shoppers can also use the multi-biometric authentication technology that links their palm vein and facial recognition information with the smartphone app. After registering this in advance, a smartphone is no longer required for entry, just a swipe of the palm.

Koyo will start full-scale operation at the store in April. Early analytics suggest Koyo has relatively high traffic during the nine hours it opens every day. Shoppers are spending an average of 113 seconds in the store, which is fast considering the size of the store and variety of items furthering Zippin’s zip in and out approach.

“Zippin is excited to work with Fujitsu to power the checkout-free technology for this new Koyo hotel store,” said Zippin CEO Krishna Motukuri. “We believe that there is big growth potential for checkout-free retail in Japan. The Green Leaves Plus store at Yokohama Techno Tower Hotel is helping to lead the way to a better retail experience at hotels, hospitals and other places where people need convenient access to food and drinks.”

In addition to hotels, Koyo also operates convenience stores and restaurants in more than 500 hospitals. This first hotel convenience store will also be a model for how checkout-free technology could work in a hospital setting where people need 24-hour access to food and drink without having to require a constant staffing presence. The store is part of a multi-phase expansion plan by Koyo to create new convenient foodservice concepts for hospitals.

“Any store that provides all-hours access is an ideal location for checkout-free technology, because the stores can be kept open without having to maintain staffing levels, especially in off-peak periods,” said Motukuri. “The opportunities are endless.”

Zippin has developed checkout-free technology enabling retailers to deploy frictionless shopping quickly in their stores. Its patent-pending approach uses AI, machine learning and sensor fusion technology to improve the consumer experience, banishing checkout queues and self-scanners, and letting shoppers zip in and out with their purchases.

The platform leverages product and shopper tracking through overhead cameras, as well as smart shelf sensors, for accuracy even in crowded stores.

Founded by industry veterans from Amazon and SRI with backgrounds in retail technology, AI and computer vision, Zippin is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by Evolv Ventures (Kraft-Heinz), Docomo Ventures, Nomura Research Institute, SAP, Maven Ventures and Core Ventures Group.