Daimaru Matsuzakaya launches AI customer-data service for brands at its Tokyo store
In short
Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores began a data marketing service on 21 October that uses AI to analyse camera data and staff-recorded customer remarks. It is offered to brands showing at the Asumise (明日見世) experience store in the Daimaru Tokyo store.
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Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores on 21 October began a data marketing service that uses artificial intelligence to analyse customer data gathered on the sales floor. The service is offered to brands that open for limited periods at Asumise (明日見世), an experience store the company runs at the Daimaru Tokyo store in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Nikkei said the store is on the ninth floor. The service is called Asumise Insight (明日見世インサイト). [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]
According to Sankei Shimbun and ITmedia, AI analyses the movements of visitors captured by AI cameras on display shelves, along with reactions and remarks recorded by sales staff. It then presents reasons products are chosen or passed over, as well as improvement points that lead to a next step, in graphs and tables. Nikkei said the cameras also record visitors' gender, age group and time spent in the store, and that exhibiting companies can use the findings for new product development, improving existing products and making promotional materials. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Nikkei xTECH said staff, called ambassadors, enter customers' remarks after serving them. The service then reports items such as number of customers served, average service time, issues and countermeasures, compatible customer groups, reasons for being chosen and reasons for being passed over. Exhibitors see this on a dedicated dashboard. The usage fee is included in the exhibition fee, and no extra cost arises, the outlet said. [ 4 ]
Asumise opened in 2021 as a showrooming space, where customers examine goods in the store and buy later on e-commerce sites. Sankei and ITmedia said it was expanded and renewed in September 2024, after which some products could also be bought on the spot. Nikkei xTECH said customers basically order through a QR code that leads to an e-commerce site. Brands are changed about every three months, and Nikkei said 18 companies handling cosmetics, sundries and apparel exhibit from 21 October. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
At the 21 October presentation, President Koji Munemori (宗森耕二) said the service turns customers' real voices into data with AI and changes hypotheses about why products sell, which had stayed at the level of guesswork, into true voices. Nikkei xTECH quoted him as saying the company built a system that gathers customers' voices through staff and analyses them with AI, and that few department stores can do this. [ 1 , 3 , 4 ]
Executive officer Naotaka Hayashi (林直孝) said, as quoted by Nikkei, that AI has changed how consumers buy and that people gather information efficiently online before purchasing. He said the store wants to become one that explains why products sell. Nikkei said the parent company, J. Front Retailing, is moving away from a model in which it completes sales of its own goods. Munemori said he wants to move closer to the group's stated goal of a value co-creation retailer. [ 2 ]
Why it matters
The outlets describe the service as a way for exhibiting brands to learn why products are chosen or passed over, and for the store group to move beyond selling its own goods. The documents give no results or figures on its effect.
Key facts
- Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores started the service, called Asumise Insight (明日見世インサイト), on 21 October. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]
- It is offered to brands that open for limited periods at Asumise, an experience store at the Daimaru Tokyo store in Chiyoda, Tokyo. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]
- AI analyses customer movements captured by cameras together with reactions and remarks that staff record. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
- Nikkei xTECH said the service reports items such as number of customers served, average service time, reasons products are chosen and reasons they are passed over, on a dedicated dashboard. [ 4 ]
- Nikkei xTECH said the usage fee is included in the exhibition fee, with no additional charge. [ 4 ]
- Nikkei said 18 companies selling cosmetics, sundries, apparel and other goods exhibit at Asumise from 21 October. [ 2 ]
- Asumise opened in 2021 as a showrooming space and changes its brands about every three months. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores began the AI-based customer data service on 21 October. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
- The service is for brands exhibiting at Asumise in the Daimaru Tokyo store. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
- It combines AI cameras in the store with customer reactions and remarks recorded by staff. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
- Asumise opened in 2021 and was renewed in 2024; brands are changed about every three months. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- President Koji Munemori spoke at the 21 October presentation. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]
Still unclear
- What results the service has produced for brands. The documents describe the launch only and give no outcomes.
- Whether the service will be extended beyond Asumise at the Daimaru Tokyo store. No document mentions any wider rollout.
- Which customer details the cameras record. Nikkei says gender, age group and dwell time; Sankei and ITmedia mention only customer movements; Nikkei xTECH says customer behaviour.