Tadashi Yanai, the chairman and president of Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing, has embarked on a digital renovation of his retail empire.

He believes, for instance, that artificial intelligence could help factories, distributors and Uniqlo stores understand with precision what the customer wants, and reduce excessive inventory. By analyzing big data on consumer behavior, Uniqlo could make recommendations on clothes or deliver the right product at the right time to a specific customer.

As such, the company seeks to hire an army of experienced information technology specialists who can help improve operational efficiency and create innovative systems. It wants software engineers capable of handling data analysis, image analysis and system development.

The problem, however, is that the casual clothing chain is not widely seen as a cutting edge digital company and has difficulties attracting the best IT talent.

Yanai, therefore, decided to turn to an old friend.

On July 6, SoftBank Group chairman Masayoshi Son joined Yanai at a recruiting fair, to which some 400 engineers and other job seekers aspiring to work in the apparel or IT industries were invited.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: asia.nikkei.com