Report on the 1st 'DX Club' Meeting for FY2026: The Forefront of Generative AI Utilization and Trade Area Analysis in Store DX

In the store business, promoting Digital Transformation (DX) to resolve labor shortages and streamline customer acquisition has become an urgent task.

In particular, there is growing interest in operational efficiency through generative AI and precise area marketing based on data.

Comix Inc. (Head Office: Maruyama-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Akihiro Suzuki), in collaboration with Most Soken Co., Ltd., which operates the "Tashiseisai Club" for multi-store businesses, held the "FY2026 DX Club 1st Meeting" online on March 24, 2026. The event featured lectures and demonstrations on document creation using generative AI and the latest trade area analysis systems.

■ Background and Challenges

In store businesses such as retail, food and beverage, and service industries, chronic labor shortages are becoming severe, making labor-saving and operational efficiency in store management extremely critical business challenges. Especially as of 2026, while many companies strongly feel the need to promote DX, the adoption rate of generative AI still remains at about 40%, and many companies are struggling with how to utilize it. There are also many voices from the field indicating that they are constantly busy with daily routine tasks and document creation, leaving insufficient time for customer interaction and strategic planning, which are where they should originally focus.

Furthermore, a major paradigm shift is occurring in the field of "trade area analysis," which is the lifeline for attracting customers to stores. It has evolved from simple distance-based analysis, such as "radius of X km," which had been established for a long time, to "behavioral data"-based analysis utilizing smartphone GPS data and other sources. Real-world trade areas are not perfect circles but form distorted polygons due to the arrangement of rivers and railway lines, for example, and need to be re-conceived as "structures created by human behavior." However, operating advanced GIS (Geographic Information System) tools requires specialized knowledge, which has posed a challenge to their widespread adoption in the field.

Against this background, the "DX Club," operated by Most Soken Co., Ltd. and Comix Inc., set "Store DX" as the main theme for its first meeting in FY2026. A venue was provided to share methods for improving operational efficiency using the latest generative AI tools and how to leverage precise trade area analysis systems based on data, offering insights directly applicable to solving the challenges faced by participating companies.

■ Event Program

At this event, over 30 member companies participated, and practical lectures and demonstrations were conducted on the following two themes.

1) Lecture ①: The Current State of Document Creation Using Generative AI

Naruo Adachi, Executive Officer and General Manager of the Growth Support Business Division at Comix Inc., took the stage to explain the latest trends in agent-based AI. He introduced through a live demonstration using actual screens that an era has arrived where high-quality documents can be generated instantly by simply entering a URL, without the need for prior text information gathering.

・Live demonstration of "Manus 1.6MAX" which automatically generates slide documents with just a URL and a prompt.

・Automatic collection of company information and multi-format output using "Google NotebookLM."

・Creation of IR materials from financial report PDFs and conversion to PowerPoint using "Claude Opus 4.6."

・Comparative demonstration of five major AI tools (Manus, NotebookLM, Claude, Gemini, Genspark) using the same source material.

・Introduction to the importance of the "Skill" function for stably generating customized documents.

2) Lecture ②: Trade Area: From Radius to Behavioral Data

Masashi Sato from DEECH Inc., which specializes in GIS system development and marketing consulting for area marketing, was invited as a guest lecturer to discuss the history of trade area analysis and the latest systems...