"αU place" Virtual Store Space Launched, Reproducing Physical Stores in Virtual Space

1. Features

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  Store interior and product displays accurately and faithfully reproduced in 3D

  Users can access the store from the free αU place app, visiting a virtual store that accurately reproduces the physical store. They can grasp what it is like to walk around inside and feel a physical store's atmosphere such as its interior and lighting, how best to navigate around the store, as experience product displays and POPs in ways that cannot be reproduced in conventional online stores. Current trends will be easy to identify, and users can tap the item they found to see the details or proceed to purchase the item on the online store from there.

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  The virtual store can be effortlessly updated to show newest displays

  All it takes for the store staff to create virtual store images is to scan the interior of a physical store with their smartphones, which will update virtual space's product display to the newest state. This will enable customers to enjoy the latest displays, even if product displays and trends inside the physical store change with the season and the like.

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  Customers can talk to store staff from the physical store

  Customers can talk to knowledgeable store staff from the participating physical stores, consulting them about products. This will start with au Style SHIBUYA MODI, where customers not comfortable about signing up for au/UQ contracts online can talk to staff about changing their model or plan.

2. How to use αU place

The service can be used for free on the αU place app. The service of talking to staff at physical stores (starting with au Style SHIBUYA MODI) will be introduced from November 2023.
To find out more about αU place and to download the app, visit https://place.alpha-u.io/ (in Japanese only)

3. About the stores

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  MUJI Ginza

  MUJI Ginza is the company's global flagship store, which opened in 2019 in Ginza. Ginza is a district of Tokyo that attracts people from all over the world to its mix of esteemed Japanese culture and latest global trends coexist. It is there that visitors can experience the real thing in the form of products and services in an environment that harmonizes tradition and state-of-the-art innovations, by learning from lifestyles from abroad and utilizing the emotionality, wisdom, and cultures of those lifestyles. Even if Ginza is not somewhere they usually visit, customers can enjoy MUJI's world view first hand in virtual space. The app will start covering food and MUJI Bakery on the first floor, women's apparel and MUJI Labo on the second floor, and MUJI HOTEL on the ninth floor, with plans to cover other floors later on.

  

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  Lui's/EX/store

  Lui's/EX/store is an apparel store for adults who want to enjoy the moment with a style that combines "sophisticated" and "street." Themed on the wardrobe of alluring men, the store offers a blend of sophisticated and street styling, showcasing local and imported products that focus on comfort, cut, and material. It also offers the women's range Lui's FEMME.

  

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  Pokeuni Harajuku (for launch in November 2023 or later)

  Pokeuni Harajuku is a flagship store of Pokeuni/Pocket Universal, the multi-character brand of pocked-sized Universal characters. The store offers photoshoot spots, perfect for social media posts, and actually playable crane games. Enjoy shopping together with Pokeuni characters!

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  2G POPUP STUDIO

  2G POPUP STUDIO is a popup conceptual store, launched inside 2G TOKYO, that consists of an art gallery, art toys, and fashion. On an irregular basis, the store organizes popup events for brands and talented artists from around the world, seen through the filter of 2G TOKYO. Its only physical store is in Shibuya PARCO, Tokyo. More than half of the store's customers visit from abroad, but this is a chance for anyone to visit 2G POPUP STUDIO remotely.

  

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  Hyobei

  Hyobei is a traditional food wholesaler that deals mainly with rice, has a 73 year history, and a company philosophy of being an ideal food partner. In addition to selling to food businesses, it will add value to rice, wheat flour and other foodstuffs for individual and overseas customers, as well as propose healthier and enriching diets through providing safer foods for customers' peace of mind.

  

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  au Style SHIBUYA MODI (au Style's virtual store)

  au Style SHIBUYA MODI showcases au/UQ mobile products and services. Customers can talk to store staff just as they would at a physical store, sign up for a new smartphone, change plans, and more. The store offers flyers and other materials to guide customers, an experience that is normally exclusive to physical stores and not available to call centers and online stores.