"Unmanned payment store" who arrived after a convenience store manager and sake brewing --touch to go Akutsu.

In -house entrepreneurs (Intraplaners), who are trying to create and innovate new businesses among large companies.What they have in common is that they actively active not only in the company but also outside the company, with the horizontal connections in the company, a wide range of human veins, or the flexible imagination that can be found to find issues and their solutions.There is something.

In this series, we will interview an intro -player who is active in such a large company, ask other companies' intraplans that they respect, and listen to them in a relay format.

TOUCH TO GO代表取締役社長の阿久津智紀氏

This time, Tomoki Akutsu, President and CEO of Touch to Go who curves out of JR East and develops an unmanned AI payment store.He has been involved in a variety of projects that are not a railway business, with a convenience store manager in the station, a local sixth industry, and the development of point services in Naka since JR East's new graduate.A new business that is full of experience and thoughts unique to him is now accelerating.

Convenience store manager and sake brewing in Aomori-Engaged in work outside of the railway

—— First of all, can you tell us about Akutsu's background?

I joined JR East in 2004 as a new graduate.He was not a railway business, but aspiring other related businesses, so he first served as a store manager of Naka's convenience store, NEWDAYS.After that, the number of group companies was increasing at the time, and joined the newly established JR East JR East Water Business as a young person as one of the young people.

In 2008, when the Shinkansen was trying to extend the Shinkansen at Shin -Aomori Station, there was a mission to work on sixth industrialization in Aomori, and his boss at that time said, "If you go to France, the fruit wine called cider is delicious, so make it you."I was told that I made a cider from Ichi.In 2019, just 10 years after its release, we won the Gold Award and Silver Awards at the UK International Fair.

After about five years in Aomori, he returned to Tokyo, and after returning to Tokyo, he participated in a project to integrate the JR Group's multiple point services into JRE points.It was around 2015 that I was in charge of the concept to the system design.Then, in 2017, the "JR East Startup Program" triggered the establishment of Touch to Go.

阿久津氏のJR東日本入社後の経歴

——What were the reasons and reasons why you got a job in JR East in the first place?

When I was a college student, I worked part -time since I opened it at a department store called Granduo in Tachikawa, Tokyo.Grand Duo is a commercial facility established in partnership between JR East and Hankyu Department Store.That's why they told me, "Take JR East Japan."

—— I didn't like the railway.

I'm not interested at all from the beginning (laughs).At that time, the city of Tachikawa became bigger and bigger, and the audience changed dramatically in the morning, noon and evening, and it would be interesting to do business where there were so many people.

I was making a liquor section and doing maintenance of the sales floor, but I felt that if I devised a little, sales will increase, and if I set up a new business in such a place, I felt that I could change my life.If there are so many users at the station toilets, I wish I could put an ad.At that time, I remember joining the company, thinking about whether it would be nice to be near the station at that time.

Sales other than the JR East railway now account for 35-40 % of the total.Businesses other than railway are very large, and there may be a decrease in railway staff due to corona evil.The only way to survive the business is to diversify the business.

——This has been involved in JR East since I was a student, and even after joining the company, I was involved in various businesses other than railway, so please tell me how I started a company called Touch to Go.

All of the projects that I worked on in JR East took a lot of time for three or five years.If possible, I wanted to create a business with a sense of speed like a startup.At that time, the open innovation initiative to create a new business in collaboration with startups seemed interesting, so I started the startup program as an event.

At that time, I remembered that I had been working on the site for a long time, so I had a few people because there were few people.For example, when you are a convenience store manager, you can't go to the toilet without a part -time job, and you can sell drinks with vending machines, but food doesn't sell at all, so you have to be a manned store.Aomori's specialty products sell 70 % of the year in June to August, but in winter, it costs only labor costs.

The business area is narrowed through people.Then, I wanted to make a business for stores that can be unmanned and saved in, so I wanted to be able to do business without people.In the first startup program in 2017, I was able to meet a company that has the technique of image recognition, a sign post, so I collaborated in Omiya to create a ministerized store for demonstration experiments.It was one step.

TOUCH TO GO設立までの経緯2017年から開始したスタートアッププログラム

To be honest, the store at this time was not very complete, but there were many voices to evaluate, so we conducted a demonstration experiment at Akabane store in 2018 to try again.From that point on, I remember that I was motivated to do business and started thinking about how to do it.Eventually, I decided to make a joint venture with the JR East Japan Startup Venture Capital, which I participated in in the same year, and the sign post.That is the current Touch to Go.

The place to "sell by hand" and "buy in real life" does not go away

——Can you tell us more about the system developed by Touch to Go?

One of the products we make is an unmanned payment system called "TTG-SENSE" mainly for retail stores.Currently, a mock store is set up at Takanawa Gateway Station in JR.It is also sold outside, and has been introduced to Kinokuniya in Mejiro, and has a capital tie -up with FamilyMart, and has been introduced to "Famima !! Sapia Tower/S" in Chiyoda Ward.In order to use it for young and old men and women, the flow of conventional shopping can be used without changing the clerk as much as possible.

無人決済システムを導入した実証実験店舗2021年3月に「ファミマ!!サピアタワー/S店」にも導入

As a mechanism, while tracking the customer's position by image recognition from the time of entering the store, the real -time action of "I picked up and returned the product" was recorded with the sensor, and based on that data, based on that data, the screen for accounting.The statement is displayed above and you have you accounting yourself.However, some customers do not know how to pay, so in that case, if you use a function to call a clerk who is in the call center or backyard, it is possible for staff and clerk to respond.

The characteristic is that all devices and algorithm are prepared on their own.It also supports cash settlement, and it is not the first time in Japan, but it is a system that allows the backyard clerk to check the age through the monitor and buy alcohol.In addition, two or more groups can accounting together.If you try to systematize all the mechanisms and operations in the store, you will inevitably overdo it.It is a combination of manned support, assuming that some people do not know how to use it.

高輪ゲートウェイ駅の店舗カメラやセンサーで来店客の移動やアクションを記録する会計ゾーンに入って画面上で決済電子マネーだけでなく現金にも対応アルコール類購入時の年齢確認はモニター越しにバックヤードの店員が行う商品管理のシステムともひも付けし、アルバイトでも使えるバックエンドに

By the way, at a convenience store, about 20 % of products may be replaced in a week.Therefore, not only the part that the customer can see, but also the actual system is linked with POS, and all the daily reports, monthly reports and product purchases are attached.As a back -end system, it can be used by one part -time job alone.

——What kind of system is the system usage fee?

At present, there are corona evils, but restaurants and retailers are originally turning their shops in a very severe cost structure, so it is very strict to pay millions of yen on the initials.。Therefore, we make a model that we estimate, minimize the initial cost and provide a monthly fee.

In the Takanawa Gateway store, you will be able to turn a part -time job alone by one person, so it is a system that costs the amount equivalent to the labor cost for one person who reduced the number of people.hey.Eventually, I want to be able to expand it to local stores, so I hope to reduce the introduction and operation costs.

「TTG-SENSE」の料金体系

There is another system called "TTG-MONSTER".This is a system for face -to -face restaurants and other service industries.For example, at a coffee shop that is operated by three people, we believe that only two floor staff and kitchen staff can operate the accounting to the customer, and lower the benefit point.

——Is that there are still many stores like convenience stores as ttg-sense products?

As with convenience stores, other than that, we have introduced a hamburger shop in Tamachi, a rental corner of a ski resort in GALA Yuzawa, and a sports gym.The other content that you often consult is that the number of people who visit the highway parking service area and the corona disaster will decrease as the number of users can be bought for drivers.Despite the fact that it is an indispensable hospital for inpatients, there are gas stations that are also measures for local shopping refugees.We think that our system matches the place where there was no way to deploy in terms of cost in terms of cost -in terms of cost.

I feel that there is quite a lot of demand as a market.Convenience stores are 11 trillion yen market and vending machines are 5 trillion yen market, but the size of micromers, including this unmanned and -saving store, is 2..I'm stepping on 5 trillion yen.We think that we can win if we only set up a system that scale the business.

ハンバーガーショップやスキー場などでの導入も進む

—— I think it seems to be close to the unmanned store mechanism like AMAZON GO, but where is the difference when compared?