Image: Amazon
There is a point where we will blankly stare at our Amazon Alexa devices and wish that it wasn’t so easy to order groceries and other retail goods. At that point, we’ll also lament the alternative — leaving the house and queuing behind strangers at the grocery store. There has got to be some sort of alternative right? That alternative is Amazon Go, a new retail experience that proves that even Amazon knows that brick and mortar isn’t dead yet.
If you prefer not to stand in the middle of Walmart, softly crying to yourself at the muddled masses of humanity, but still like to physically go shopping then Amazon Go is the future you are waiting for. Amazon Go is a literal brick and mortar store, announced today. In the super positive promotional video, Amazon Go appears to be a technologically advanced Whole Foods.
So how does Amazon Go work? Conceptually, it’s simple. You enter the store through what appear to be futuristic turnstiles using the Amazon app on your phone (and what looks to be some sort of bar code). Then, you walk through the store, jam a bunch of artisan cheeses into your vintage messenger bag and walk out. No cashiers, no lines.
According to the press release, the technology in use to enable the grab-and-go scenario is similar to that of self-driving cars. The store uses (insert buzzwords here) computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning. Amazon is calling the combination of all this jive its “Just Walk Out” technology. This tech automatically detects when you pick up (or put back) products and keeps track of it all in a virtual cart. After you’ve left the store, Amazon then charges your account and sends you a receipt. Just like if you were shopping online. Which you’ll probably do anyway.
This is all well and good, but holds no weight outside certain bubbles of society. Seattle, Silicon Valley, Brooklyn will most likely see the next Amazon Go stores. Middle America and anywhere where customers buy their cupcakes by the dozen for the same price as one cupcake at a specialty store like Trader Joe’s will most likely never see the inside of an Amazon Go store. It’s delightful and probably revolutionary, but limited.
That being said, there is no reason to think that the technology being employed will be limited to Amazon Go stores. This “Just Walk Out” technology has applications beyond just Amazon’s version of Fresh Market. Larger retailers, always suffering from shrinkage (theft) problems as well as line management could supplant self-checkout with Amazon Go technology. The counter-argument of jobs being lost once again to technology can be saved for another day.
The flagship Amazon Go store is located at 2131 7th Ave, Seattle, WA and will open to the public in January 2017.
