Uniqlo Banks on RFID Tech To Drive International Growth

Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo, hopes to drive international growth and improve its supply chain management through RFID technology.  

In an interview with Retail Dive, the CIO of Fast Retailing Takahiro Tambara, says the Japanese-based company is going to go global in a “big way” and wants to accelerate expansions, particularly in the U.S. and European markets.  

He also believes that RFID technology is the key to making a great in-person customer experience, as it is used in their stores for self-checkout services, among others.  

“Our strength is having retail stores. So we have been developing our digital platform so that customers can have a seamless shopping experience,” he adds. 

The CIO also expressed his optimism about the importance of maintaining physical stores. “The more people become digital natives, the more important becomes that human touch at the store experience. So we want to evolve our face-to-face customer experience by developing digital technology to better have our associates serve customers in stores.” 

As of late 2022, Uniqlo has had 45 physical stores in the U.S. Its parent company has also garnered a total of 2.3 trillion yen by the end of its fiscal year in August 2022.  

It is also the biggest among Fast Retailing Group’s brands. Other brands include GU, Theory, PLST, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse tam.tam, J Brand and Helmut Lang.