The history of NEC's engagement in providing retail solutions dates back to the early 1980s. This was the era that witnessed the beginning of store automation in Japan which was followed by a Retail revolution. NEC not only provided solutions to its clients, but unlike conventional ERP solutions, continued to have a highly synchronized strategy along-with detailed understanding of target industry and customer needs. Consequently, NEC was successful in further product innovation with its policy of strategic alignment with clients, grasp of industry needs and quick, proactive response.

Starting from the Electronic Ordering Terminal (EOT, top) and the Programable POS (left) in the early 1980s, NEC developed various unique store solutions for various retail business processes. The next step of innovation was Electronic Order Book (EOB) a handy terminal for ordering function in store operations. As the strategic partnership matured, further innovations like Store Computer, Graphic Order Terminal, Scanner Terminal, etc. followed. The Retail Solutions at present are able to handle complex processes like Payment Systems, ATM Systems and Customer Loyalty card systems.

It was NEC who brought about the introduction of the EAN/UPS barcode readers on the POS systems. The system was also programmable to add to its flexibility. It can be understood that in this way, throughout last 30 years, NEC has carried out innovations while providing Retail solutions according to the needs of its users.