In a move that only enhances its reputation as a trailblazer in the field, Amazon opened the company’s first supermarket that doesn’t have any cashiers in it.
This means shoppers can buy what they need without ever having to wait in line or open their wallets. More on this story in the video below:
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It’s a clear indication that the online retail giant is intent on taking on the $800 billion grocery industry.
The store opened on February 25 in Seattle, the company’s hometown. Shoppers first need to scan a smartphone app before entering. Sensors and cameras then track what’s taken off the shelves and the shopper’s Amazon account is charged after leaving.
Art Kuniyuki, a payroll and benefits manager, spent $15 on Dove chocolate, Barilla pasta, and a few other groceries soon after the store opened.
“I love the convenience of literally grabbing and going,” said Kuniyuki.
The store is called Amazon Go Grocery and is an expansion of the 25 Amazon Go convenience stores that have already been operating for 2 years. But at 10,400 square feet, it’s more than five times the size of the convenience stores with a wider range of goods on offer.
Cameron Janes helps manage Amazon’s physical stores. He explained they had to tweak the technology to account for shopper quirks such as squeezing tomatoes to test for ripeness or digging through avocados to find the right one. No item is weighed. A blood orange goes for 53 cents while a banana goes for 19 cents.
It’s not Amazon’s first foray into the grocery store business. In 2017, the company acquired Whole Foods and its 500 stores. Their online grocery delivery service has also been expanding. But compared to Walmart with its 4,700 stores, Amazon still lags far behind. Walmart has also had huge success with its online grocery service where customers buy online then drop by to a store to pick up their purchases.
Later this year, Amazon also plans to open a new type of grocery store in Los Angeles. Other than saying that the store won’t be cashier-less, they haven’t divulged any other details. The company also didn’t comment on whether or not more Amazon Go Grocery stores will be opened though they did say they don’t plan to implement the technology to Whole Foods stores.
Janes did say that a lot of Whole Foods suppliers will also supply Amazon Go Grocery. The difference is that the grocery will also carry Oreos, Cheez-Its, and other products normally banned from the natural grocer.
One phone can be used to scan for a whole family coming in. Anything the family grabs will be charged to the person who signed them in after they leave the store. But the company warns shoppers against helping strangers reaching for the top shelf. The person who grabs the item will be charged for it.
Other retailers have caught on to the cashier-less concept. 7-Eleven has already been testing the technology at a company store for employees in its offices in Irving, Texas.
But lawmakers and advocates are questioning the technology, claiming it discriminates against low-income people who usually don’t have credit cards or bank accounts. But Amazon has said that shoppers can also pay in cash at the grocery store by alerting a store employee to pass them through the turnstile.
A cashier-less system means that fewer employees are needed. Janes would only say that “several dozen” employees man the store. Workers do go around greeting customers and stocking the shelves while one worker is at the alcohol section to verify the IDs of shoppers getting wine or beer.
Although shoppers will enjoy not having to wait in line, the system does take away some of the perks of traditional groceries. No one is there to bag groceries and there’s no deli counter, fishmonger, or butcher. Instead, salmon fillets, sliced ham, and steaks are already pre-packaged.
“Just walk out technology is kind of cool, in theory,” said David Bishop, a partner at retail consultancy Brick Meets Click, but he said there are other factors that influence shoppers besides how fast they can get in and out of the store.
For instance, shoppers who want thinly-sliced ham might opt to go two blocks farther to the Kroger-owned QFC supermarket.
Bishop did admit that the grocery industry will not be able to ignore Amazon because the company has the resources and the technology to shake up the way traditional groceries are run.
“They’re not giving up,” he said of Amazon.
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