Panasonic Aims To Make Retail Smarter With New Tablets

Panasonic is releasing a range mobile devices it says are designed to digitise all areas of retail, from shelf-stacking to the point of sale.

These include a new edition of the company’s Toughpad FZ-M1 tablet equipped with an NFC contactless card reader, another with Intel’s RealSense 3D camera functionality, and a smartphone-sized device that can act as a mobile Point of Sale (PoS) terminal.

All areas

The latest edition of Panasonic’s rugged device range, the new 7 inch Toughpad FZ-M1 mk2 tablet (pictured left) can be used in the stock room or on the shop floor, with the RealSense camera able to measure boxes or products to establish the most effiicient way to stack or display items

Customers could also use the device to see how an item would look in their house so they don’t have to bring it back if it’s unsuitable.

The new devices have also received a hardware upgrade, with the 7 inch version sporting Intel’s latest Core m5-6Y57 vPro processor, Windows 10 Pro, dual band WLAN and Bluetooth 4.1. It weights 540g and is 18mm thin, costing £1,216 plus VAT.

Also being realised is a version of the ToughPad tablet equipped with Ingenico’s iCMP Chip & Pin payment system, offering one of the smallest and lightest mobile payment devices available today.

The iCMP uses Bluetooth technology to connect to the Panasonic Toughpad, and accepts all types of major payment methods, including EMV Chip & Pin, magstripe and contactless, to provide retailers with a more mobile and flexible way for their customers to pay.

All clued up on mobile payments? Try our quiz!