{"id":20022,"date":"2024-09-24T05:26:15","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T09:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/?p=20022"},"modified":"2024-09-24T05:26:16","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T09:26:16","slug":"uniqlo-and-their-unique-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/2024\/09\/24\/uniqlo-and-their-unique-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Uniqlo and their Unique solution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this review I wanted to find an innovative solution to services that are typically \u2018self service\u2019. The retail space has been using self checkout scanners in 1986 and haven\u2019t gone anywhere since. According to the article \u201dover\u00a0two-thirds<\/a>\u201d of customers have \u201cexperienced problems while using the technology\u201d (Picoult, 2023). Uniqlo has taken these issues head on and have discovered a possible solution to the ailments that customers have griped about for years. I hope to find insight on the self service technology available, and how it may translate to the financial world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In their quest to invent a better self-checkout terminal, Uniqlo focused on a key source of customer frustration: the effort required to scan every item (without triggering errors that would require flagging down a store employee). At Uniqlo\u2019s self-checkout, there is no need to hunt for and scan the bar code on every purchased good. You just toss all the apparel you\u2019re buying into the self-checkout machine\u2019s container bin and, miraculously, all of your items are automatically scanned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind this magical self-checkout experience lies a decidedly low-tech solution \u2013 radio frequency identification chips (RFID) that are embedded in every Uniqlo price tag. The self-checkout machine is equipped with an RFID reader that can \u2013 with remarkable accuracy \u2013 detect and record the price of all the goods tossed into the checkout bin. Compared to item-by-item scanning, this<\/em> is an effortless experience. (Watch this video<\/a> to see it for yourself.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seventy percent of Uniqlo\u2019s customers (and up to 90% in some markets) choose to use the store\u2019s self-checkout terminals. And rather than grouse about them, these customers love them. Indeed, these self-checkout machines have become a signature element of the Uniqlo store experience \u2013 finally fulfilling the decades-old promise of self-checkout by offering not just a better customer experience, but delivering it at a lower cost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This use of innovative technology allows Uniqlo to give a solely unique experience to customers, but that doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s the only option at Uniqlo stores. \u201dWith most any new customer experience innovation (technology-enabled or not), the key is to\u00a0earn adoption<\/em>. The moment you start forcing customers down a certain path, it\u2019s that much more likely that they\u2019ll resist the change<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uniqlo\u2019s new self-checkout experience isn\u2019t just effortless, it\u2019s downright magical. For anyone who\u2019s not familiar with RFID technology, seeing the Uniqlo machines in operation can\u2019t help but create a sense of surprise and mystery:\u00a0How did that self-checkout terminal just scan all of my purchases?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presuming a customer\u2019s basic needs are being met, \u201chow did they do that?\u201d moments can create a peak in the experience that materially influences how people remember the encounter. (From a different industry, another example is how front desk staff at luxury hotels greet newly arriving guests by name. Trade secret: the bell person radios it to them in real time, after glancing at the traveler\u2019s luggage tags.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology, applied creatively, can trigger these surprising moments, as can the subtle capture of information that enables an unusual level of personalization. However it\u2019s accomplished, injecting a little \u201cmagic and mystery\u201d into the customer experience not only makes it more memorable, but it leads people to talk up the encounter with others (Picoult, 2023).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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UNIQLO’s new RFID scanners, image sourced from https:\/\/www.the-sun.com\/news\/7829721\/major-retailer-uniqlo-self-checkout-technology\/<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The wow factor of the new Uniqlo self checkout scanner is enough reason to draw inspiration to innovate, but what I found interesting was care that went into that decision. Uniqlo used emerging technology for the purpose of the customer, and to make their interactions in their store seamless. I also found it interesting how Picoult shifted focus for a moment to show how some other retail spaces are trying to solve the issues, but their solutions are coming short. They\u2019re coming short because they don\u2019t give autonomy to the customer, while also providing seamless interactions. I\u2019m sure the new technology will have its hiccups from time to time but I believe that they have taken leaps to create a much better customer experience overall. Learning from Uniqlo\u2019s new self checkout scanners how can design use new and emerging technologies to provide an easy and seamless experience for the customer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picoult, J. (2023, December 21). A self-checkout that customers love? this company created it.<\/em> Forbes. https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/jonpicoult\/2023\/12\/21\/a-self-checkout-that-customers-love–this-company-created-it\/<\/a>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this review I wanted to find an innovative solution to services that are typically \u2018self service\u2019. The retail space has been using self checkout scanners in 1986 and haven\u2019t gone anywhere since. According to the article \u201dover\u00a0two-thirds\u201d of customers have \u201cexperienced problems while using the technology\u201d (Picoult, 2023). Uniqlo has taken these issues head […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":22352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20022"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22355,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20022\/revisions\/22355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}