Second checkout-less store for Amazon
Our expert's opinion
"In 2016, Amazon officially opened its first checkout-less store, where you can just walk out the store without paying. The company was happy with the results and is now opening its second store. The two high-tech stores are both in the United States.
IoT is big nowadays and is expanding. I'm already looking forward to the first checkout-less store in Europe."
- Yoram Ceelen, Business Development Consultant
Amazon’s second checkout-free Amazon Go store is now open in Seattle
Amazon officially opened the doors Monday, August 27, on its second “grab-and-go” convenience store in Seattle.
The latest Amazon Go location has been placed right in the heart of the downtown region of the ecommerce giant’s home city, inside the Madison Centre building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Marion Street. It is 1,450 square feet in size, just a bit smaller than the company’s original convenience store that opened in 2016, according to TechCrunch.
Amazon Go allows customers to take items off of the store shelves and simply walk out with them without visiting a checkout. The store is filled with cameras and sensors that can detect and record what a shopper picks up and takes with them. Once the customer walks out of the door with their bag of goodies, Amazon charges their account for the items.
In additional to standard convenience store items, the new location will offer ready-made meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner and Amazon’s Meal Kits.
In May, Amazon confirmed it’s also looking to open Go stores in Chicago and San Francisco, though it declined to offer any specific dates. It has already secured a permit for the construction of what is believed to be a Go store in Chicago’s Loop district, while Union Square has reportedly been selected for the San Francisco site.
There have also been reports that the company wants to open as many as six Amazon Go stores in U.S. cities before the end of 2018.
The expansion to a second store is confirmation that the company is happy with the operation of its original checkout-less store, and suggests that its technology functioning as it should. As you would expect with such a revolutionary idea, the original store saw extensive testing with Amazon employees before it opened to the public, and things didn’t always go as planned.
To shop at the high-tech store, customers only need to scan their Amazon Go app when they enter the premises. After that, it’s simply a case of choosing your items and popping them in your bag. The system can even track when you put a previously selected item back on the shelf, should you change your mind as you make your way around.
The interest in checkout-less stores is apparently spreading to other major companies, too. Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Microsoft is developing similar technology and is in talks with Walmart about a possible partnership.
Source: Digital Trends
