Knowledge Aug 21, 2025 Trend Report: New Innovations and How Are They Changing the Japanese Retail Market

Labor shortages and increasing sophistication of consumer experiences are unavoidable issues for Japan's food and beverage and retail industry. In recent years, the use of OMO (Online Merges with Offline) has accelerated, and companies that actualize the automation of on-site operations are attracting attention.

New Innovations is a start-up company that develops OMO solutions that combine hardware and software. They introduced the world's first unmanned café robot equipped with demand forecasting AI and "root C". New Innovations also produces the fully automated shaved ice production robot "Kakigori Maker," as well as the AI-based cloud professional drawing management system "Drawing Bank." In addition, they are actively developing new services such as "Burger Cooker," which focuses on full automation for quick-service restaurants, and "Store Meister," which integrates an order kiosk and a cooking instruction system. New Innovations is positioning their technology to lead the reform of the food & beverage and retail industries with their wide range of products. Their business model is characterized by not only offering solutions that solve labor shortages and offer cost savings, but with their AI and robotics technology they also boast about the improved customer experience at the same time.

Based on the philosophy of "moving people from process value-added work to human value-added work", the company is accelerating its expansion in Japan and overseas. Last year, New Innovations won the Fantastic Startup Award at the SusHi Tech Award held at the SusHi Tech Tokyo 2024, which is a global innovation conference. 

In May 2025, KDDI made an additional investment in the company. Through the introduction of the service at Lawson stores (also partly owned by KDDI) and collaboration with other corporate customers, New Innovations plans to expand their cutting-edge technologies and service offerings to enhance the customer experience at many retail stores and chains. 　

We will continue to monitor their new developments to keep track of the impact on innovation on physical retails stores in the era of human resource shortages.

Disclaimer:

The opinions expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of KDDI America, Inc or any other companies or organizations.

KDDI America, Inc.

 KDDI America is the US subsidiary of KDDI Corporation, a Fortune Global 500 company and is growing communications carrier with a proven track record in Japan and a longstanding reputation for quality and reliability. KDDI America provides a wide range of High Quality Services such as Communications, Data Centers and Solution Services throughout the world.