Start Today Co., Ltd.'s new service, "WEAR," will launch on October 31st. Since its announcement on Twitter in May by Start Today's president, Yusaku Maezawa, as a new development in O2O (online-to-offline) technology that leverages barcode scanning to connect brick-and-mortar and online stores, the service has been gaining attention from apparel companies, major retailers, and e-commerce companies.
The barcode scanning feature provides users with more information to consider when making a purchase, and reduces lost sales opportunities for brands (sellers). By scanning desired products into the app and saving them as a history, the app retains them on the user's "wish list." Another benefit is that users can check inventory availability in brick-and-mortar stores and online stores, preventing lost sales. For companies like United Arrows, which are working to flatten data between in-store and e-commerce, this feature will undoubtedly be a valuable platform for both customers and brands.
However, what has shocked the industry is the new user search behavior of barcode scanning using smartphones. Retailers are growing increasingly concerned that if this behavior becomes commonplace in stores, people will no longer buy products in brick-and-mortar stores. Concerns about the acceleration of showrooming have become a hot topic. A limited-time experimental implementation at four Parco stores was announced on October 17th, starting November 8th. Until then, Lumine CEO Ryosuke Arai's comment that he would not participate in WEAR drew widespread attention, raising the question of the difficulty of coexisting with major commercial facilities. "Barcode scanning is just one feature of WEAR, and even if barcode scanning itself doesn't become widespread (in brick-and-mortar stores), I believe it will continue to expand in other areas. Major commercial facility developers will likely see no reason not to use the service once it reaches millions or tens of millions of users, so we're not in a rush to popularize barcode scanning," said Yusaku Maezawa, expressing confidence in the new service. Maezawa's "WEAR" features three main functions: These include a barcode scanning function, a coordination search function (Coordination Recipe function), and a closet organization function (My Closet function). You can also share your creations on social media.
(Continued in Vol. 2)
