From January 14th to 16th, 2024, AsReader, Inc. demonstrated new RFID advances designed to make retailers’ jobs easier at Retail’s Big Show, hosted by the National Retail Federation (NRF). Held annually at the Javits Center in New York City, AsReader had three dignitaries travel from our Japanese headquarters participating in NRF for the first time in four years; Founder of Asterisk Co., Ltd. Noriyuki Suzuki, Business Manager Eitaro Kato, and Deputy Business Manager Yoko Sakai. Yuki Kuwabara also attended from partner tech company Teijin Frontier.

Now in its seventh year of attending NRF, the AsReader booth progressed to the 3rd floor, a celebratory high profile move in joining larger companies exhibiting there. Many international visitors, especially Japanese brands, came by the AsReader booth, which was greeted with many customers at the opening time of 10:00 am on the first day. Modern Retail reports that 40,000 people attended NRF this year.

We felt the show was a great success, with many exhibition booths from startups to the world’s leading companies displaying the latest technology for retail, and a variety of sessions providing a window to the future of RFID tech.

At our booth, we exhibited RFID/barcode (hardware/software) readers from our brand AsReader for retail use. Visitors saw first-hand how RFID can capture hundreds or even thousands of RFID tags per second, quickly find misplaced items at a distance up to 40 feet, and complete more-accurate inventory cycle-counts in a fraction of the time. In addition, the newest version of the PADDLE-Type (ASR-P252B) was also on display with extension poles to allow both RFID and Barcode scans in hard-to-reach places.

AsReader, Inc. will start selling a wearable device in the American and European markets, namely Teijin Frontier’s RecoHand™️, which reads single tags at extremely close range, also exhibited at NRF. This all-new product from Japan has just achieved FCC/FDA approval in the USA and is the only Wearable RFID Reader of its kind. Usually, when scanning UHF RFD tags, it is nearly impossible to read just one tag, but with this new technology, users can simply touch the UHF RFID tag they wish to read, and it will scan only that tag, ignoring all the stray tags around it. Terrific for picking, shelving, sorting, inspection, packing, and for any situation where one-to-one scanning is desired.

One product that was particularly well-received was the software decoder “AsReader CameraX,” announced in December 2023, and reads barcodes with a smartphone camera. Many customers stopped in their tracks to hear the message, “You can read at high speeds!” and complimented the reading performance. Booth-goers saw this scanning software in action on the enterprise-ready Kyocera Ultra-Rugged DuraForce PRO 3 and DuraSport 5G Android smartphones, showing lightning-fast scans and speeds previously unattainable.

Other main barcode readers such as “ASR-A24D” were also on display. AsReader’s collaboration on smartphone terminals with Kyocera in Japan was also on display at the show. With the support of Bill Veasy, Kyocera International, Inc. National Enterprise Sales, we demonstrated modular scanning solutions using DuraForce PRO 3 for the US market.

We believe that the use of smartphones in business will become more widespread as customers experience for themselves that it is possible to replace traditional handheld devices with multifunctional smartphones.

In the field of RFID, we recently announced these new products: ASR-P35U, ASR-P37U, ASR-P252B, which can read tags in high places and narrow spaces. Also new is the “Reading Tub” with a built-in special material that confines radio waves for self checkout.

The Smart Jewelry Tray, in partnership with PT Next, has scanned, monitored and recorded high end and iconic jewelry and watches valued at over $1 billion. The tray captures and measures consumer demand and product conversion rates, thereby enabling better boutique assortment and marketing to drive sales and increase foot traffic for jewelers. Utilizing hardware by AsReader, the RFID-enabled Smart Jewelry Tray was developed in partnership with PT Next. Additionally, the L251G GUN-Type can locate missing jewelry and watches at long-distance range inside boutiques.

Two press releases were posted on the NRF site, one on the show booth, and the other on the Smart Jewelry Tray collaboration with PR Next.  They were also distributed to the 108 members attending the show.

 

Paul met with the New York office of Senken Shimbun, founded in 1956 and has the world’s largest circulation of any fashion industry newspaper. It provides news, research data and new business ideas, influencing the fashion trade in Japan. Kris is also interviewing with RFID Journal Magazine on a Smart Jewelry Tray story.

AsReader staff also took the opportunity to tour other companies’ exhibit booths in order to gather information, and it was an opportunity to get a first-hand feeling that “the smartization of the retail industry will accelerate,” such as unmanned stores and sensors. We will continue to work even harder towards this goal.

Asterisk Co., Ltd. and its group companies aim to increase sales not only in Japan but also in Europe and the United States by developing new products and strengthening sales capabilities based on the needs learned at this tradeshow.