Japanese e-commerce site to help customers select shoes online using 3D scan

The Japanese billionaire using technology to improve online shopping is taking his efforts head-to-toe.

Yusaku Maezawa, founder of Japanese e-commerce site Zozo Inc., dropped several hints on Twitter that his company will soon let users create 3-D scans of their feet and use the measurements to buy shoes through the site. In May, Maezawa released the Zozosuit, a spandex body suit that can measure the human body in 3-D and create custom-sized clothes to fit the dimensions.

'Almost ready,' he tweeted earlier on Saturday, accompanied by a video of a 3D model of a human foot being displayed and manipulated on a smartphone screen. 'Foot measurement. Easy at your home,' he tweeted after midnight on Sunday, adding several shoe emojis including high-heels, sneakers and boots. 

The expansion into footwear could be the next step in Zozo's global expansion, spearheaded with the Zozosuit. Maezawa aims to make Zozo into a leading clothing brand and in April laid out a 10-year plan for quintupling his company's market value to 5 trillion yen ($45 billion). Shares fell 1.3% in early Tokyo trading on Monday, while the broader Japanese market declined 1.5%.

Last month, Maezawa joined Elon Musk in announcing that the Japanese entrepreneur will be the first paying passenger to the moon on a SpaceX rocket. The trip is scheduled to take place in 2023.