Amazon Go Store
-- posted April 2017 --
Amazon has plans in 2017 to open its first Amazon Go Store, which will be an actual offline convenience store with one main enticing feature: no checkout lines. The customers will enter the store, pick their products, and simply exit, without stopping at a cashier station for their items to be scanned and to pay. The company is developing an automated retail system that will utilize sensors and data processing software to identify the selected products by a customer, and afterward, it will automatically charge the customer’s account for the amount of the purchase.
The first thing that probably comes to mind to many of us is that they will attach miniature electronic emitters to the products, and that these devices will be detected when the customer passes through an exit transition area. On the contrary, Amazon’s checkout-free shopping concept relies on vision cameras, image processing, and deep learning technology, for detecting items that customers take from the shelves. This is what makes the (as Amazon calls it - Just Walk Out Shopping) experience interesting and innovative. However, the company hasn’t revealed many specific details on the technology: probable algorithms that are implemented range from user identification by facial recognition, tracking a person’s motion throughout the store, item/object recognition, and similar vision and machine learning methods.
The customers will need to have an account with Amazon, and a smartphone with the Amazon Go app installed. And that is all that will be required for one to conveniently shop in the high-tech mortar-and-brick store.
Amazon has previously initiated other services poised to transform the traditional retail business model, such as Amazon Prime free 2-days delivery, electronic payments service, testing package delivery with drones, etc. The enhanced shopping experience linked to Go Store will likely not be limited solely to eliminating the checkout lines: based on customers past shopping history the company can suggest products that are compatible with users’ preferences and dietary habits, it can notify customers of discounted items, expiration dates of purchased items, and similar information.
The first beta version of the store is located in Seattle, and it is currently open only to Amazon employees.
Here is the link to the 1:49 minutes promotional video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrmMk1Myrxc
