Panasonic Highlights Retail Technology Solutions To Enhance Operations, Reduce Shrinkage And Improve The Customer Experience At NRF2014 Expo

Panasonic System Communications Company of North America, a leading provider of retail business technology solutions, is today demonstrating the integrated retail solutions at NRF 2014 EXPO (booth #1539). Featuring a wide variety of technology solutions designed to help meet the needs of retailers from the sales floor to the back office, delivery truck and everywhere in between, the Panasonic exhibit space demonstrates how rugged enterprise-grade tablets and wireless solutions can connect the retail environment. This connection enables stores to manage much of their technology portfolio, including surveillance systems, digital signage, point of sale and more from one handheld screen.

“As technologies continue to converge onto one network, 2014 will be the year that retailers truly embrace reliable end-to-end technology solutions that will connect data to customers, employees and managers to create not only a best-in-class customer experience, but also improve overall employee productivity, boost sales and reduce shrinkage,” said Ed McCabe, National Sales Manager, Retail, Panasonic System Communications Company of North America. “This convergence will also enable retailers to manage these technologies from a single device – like our family of fully-rugged Toughpad tablet computers.”

At NRF EXPO booth #1539, visitors can interact with a wide range of technologies built for applications in all areas of a retail store including digital signage for entranceways and aisles, payment solutions for the check-out counter and mobile sales rep and surveillance and monitoring solutions for traditional loss prevention and integrated video analysis technologies for improved business operations.

Digital Signage Solutions

When a customer arrives, first impressions matter. So for the entrance area, Panasonic is demonstrating digital signage solutions with a 4x4 video wall featuring TH-55LFV50 ultra-narrow bezel displays and larger-than-life projector installation using PT-DZ13KU3-Chip DLP™ projectors as well as an interactive kiosk with wayfinding and self-service applications. These digital signage solutions enable retailers to highlight promotions, boost sales, entertain and direct customers and improve the store’s overall image.

Mobility and Payment Solutions

Panasonic is also introducing two new Windows 8 Pro tablets built for the retail space at NRF 2014 EXPO for the first time, the Toughpad FZ-M1 and Toughpad 4KUT-MA6 tablet, to demonstrate how enterprise-grade mobile devices can be used to improve the customer experience and increase operational efficiencies.

As the thinnest* and lightest* rugged 7-inch fanless tablet with a 4^th generation Intel^® Core^™ i5 processor available today, the Toughpad FZ-M1 provides retail managers with the compact size, power, connectivity and configuration options and sheer toughness they require in a tablet. It and other models in the Toughpad family will be running a variety of retail-specific applications designed for mobile POS, line-busting, price checks, customer engagement and inventory locating tasks.

The Toughpad 4K UT-MB5 tablet, which is the world’s first 20-inch tablet with a 4K resolution display, is ideal for high-end retail stores looking for a unique sales tool to engage shoppers in an interactive new way.

Additional POS units, including the Panasonic Stingray Envo POS Workstation and Lite-Ray POS Workstation, offer retailers stationary solutions that are reliable, cost efficient and provide a virtually unlimited mounting options. Besides the new Toughpad FZ-M1, there will also be a number of other tablets for fully-mobile and semi-mobile POS, including the Android-powered Toughpad FZ-A1 and the Toughpad FZ-G1 running Windows 8 Pro.

Surveillance and Monitoring Solutions

Facial recognition at POS and entrance/exit points can significantly help reduce the high cost of shoplifting, customer lawsuits and employee theft. The exhibit will demonstrate facial recognition and matching technologies via Panasonic i-PRO SmartHD™ security cameras. These facial recognition technologies will show how retailers can analyze visual information, such as relative age and gender, and throughput the data to strategically placed digital displays to target customers with customized messaging.

A simulated manager’s office will show multiple surveillance camera feeds on traditional displays as well as on a 10-inch ToughpadFZ-G1 tablet. This Mobile Control Room Solution combines the rugged mobility of ToughpadFZ-G1 with Panasonic’s advanced line of surveillance technology, providing a truly mobile platform for comprehensive remote wireless surveillance.

For more information, visit http://www.panasonic.com/business-solutions/retail-solutions.asp or visit booth #1539.

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Panasonic Solutions for Business

Panasonic delivers reliable business technology solutions that connect data with decision makers to drive better outcomes—for our customers and our customers’ customers. Panasonic engineers reliable products and solutions that help to create, capture and deliver data of all types, where, when and how it is needed. The complete suite of Panasonic professional solutions for government and commercial enterprises of all sizes addresses unified business communications, mobile computing, security and surveillance, retail point-of-sale, office productivity, visual communications (projectors, displays, digital signage) and HD video production. Panasonic solutions for business are delivered by Panasonic System Communications Company of North America, Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation.

All brand and company/product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies. All specifications are subject to change without notice. Information on Panasonic solutions for business can be obtained by calling 877-803-8492 or at us.panasonic.com/business-solutions/.

About Panasonic Corporation of North America

Panasonic Corporation of North America provides a broad line of digital and other electronics products and services for consumer, business and industrial use. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation, and the hub of Panasonic’s U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. In Interbrand’s 2013 Annual “Best Global Green Brands” report, the Panasonic brand ranked number four, the highest ranked electronics brand in the report (http://bit.ly/17ezCDI). As part of continuing sustainability efforts, Panasonic Corporation of North America relocated its headquarters to a new facility built to meet LEED certification standards, adjacent to Newark Penn Station in Newark, NJ. Learn more about Panasonic at www.panasonic.com.

*World’s lightest and thinnest rugged 7-inch fanless tablet with a 4th generation Intel^® Core™ i5 processor as of Jan. 6, 2014 (standard configuration)