Nextwaves Brings the Retail Kit RFID to Tokyo for the Vietnam - Japan Incubation Program 2026

For us, this is more than a pitch. It is a chance to show the Japanese market what RFID built in Vietnam can do, and the product we are bringing to the front of the room is the Retail Kit RFID.

Why Japan, and why now

Japanese retail has spent years pushing toward labor efficiency, accurate inventory, and faster checkout. Staff shortages and rising operating costs have made automation less of a nice-to-have and more of a daily necessity. That is exactly the gap UHF RFID was built to close, and it is why a program connecting Vietnamese technology companies with Japanese partners feels so well timed.

Being chosen as one of twelve startups gives Nextwaves a direct line to investors, accelerators, and retail decision makers who are actively looking for solutions. We want to use that moment well, which means leading with a product that is practical, proven, and easy to understand the first time you see it.

What the Retail Kit RFID actually is

The Retail Kit RFID is an all-in-one package designed to get a store up and running on RFID without a long, complicated rollout. Instead of buying readers, tags, antennas, and software separately and hoping they work together, a retailer gets a single kit that is ready to deploy.

At a high level, it brings together three things that retailers care about most.

First, fast and accurate stocktaking. A full-store inventory count that used to take hours with a barcode scanner can be done in minutes, because a UHF RFID reader captures many tags at once instead of one item at a time. That accuracy feeds straight into better replenishment decisions and fewer out-of-stock moments.

Second, smoother checkout. Because items can be read in bulk rather than scanned individually, the path from basket to receipt gets shorter, which is felt by both staff and shoppers.

Third, real-time visibility. Stock levels stay current rather than drifting out of sync between the shelf and the system, which is the quiet cause of a lot of lost sales and over-ordering.

Built on the Nextwaves ecosystem

The Retail Kit RFID does not stand alone. It is part of the wider Nextwaves Hyperion ecosystem, which includes handheld and fixed readers, V-Series tags, antennas, and self-checkout kiosks, all designed to work together. On the software side, it connects to Easy Inventory and the Nextwaves Cloud platform, so the data captured at the shelf turns into something a store manager can act on.

As a RAIN Alliance member working with EPC Gen2 and UHF RFID, Nextwaves builds to open standards rather than locking customers into a closed system. That matters to retailers and partners who want technology that fits into what they already run.

What we hope to take home from Tokyo

We are heading to TIB with three goals. We want to introduce the Retail Kit RFID to retailers and integrators who can put it to work in Japanese stores. We want to meet partners and distributors who understand the local market far better than we ever could from the outside. And we want honest feedback, because a product gets sharper every time it meets a new set of real requirements.

If you are attending the Vietnam - Japan Incubation Program 2026, come and find us. We would genuinely like to talk through your inventory and checkout challenges and show you the kit in action.