Amazon is doubling down on its Just Walk Out technology, despite removing the cashier-less checkout system from its Amazon Fresh grocery stores. The company plans to sell the technology to over 120 third-party businesses by the end of the year, in an effort to expand its reach beyond its own retail locations. Just Walk Out utilizes cameras, artificial intelligence, and sensor trackers to allow customers to grab their items and leave by inserting a payment method at the store’s entry gate, eliminating the need for traditional checkout lines.
While Just Walk Out will continue to be available at Amazon Go convenience stores and some Amazon Fresh locations in the U.K., the technology will be replaced with smart carts at Fresh stores in the U.S. Smart carts use sensors to identify items placed inside and have screens that display nearby deals and the total cost of groceries. Customers can scan and tally items on the cart’s camera, enabling a seamless checkout experience without the need for traditional cashiers.
Amazon’s decision to revamp its Fresh stores with a mix of technology and traditional grocery offerings comes as the company aims to attract more customers and make a larger impact in the competitive U.S. grocery market. Despite facing challenges in the grocery sector, Amazon continues to evolve its store formats to cater to the needs of different customer segments. The company’s grocery store brands include Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, and Whole Foods, which was acquired in 2017 for $13.7 billion.
The move to remove Just Walk Out from U.S. Amazon Fresh stores is seen as part of an experimentation process to understand customer preferences in different store formats. Amazon’s Vice President of Just Walk Out, Jon Jenkins, stated that customers in larger grocery stores prefer shopping assistants, while those in smaller formats seek a quick and frictionless shopping experience. Although this decision may present challenges in selling the technology to other businesses, experts believe it could drive adoption among smaller-format stores and locations similar to Amazon Go.
As Amazon expands its efforts to sell its cashier-less technology to other businesses, the company aims to address and counter false claims that the system is operated by human contractors manually adding up items in carts. Reports have previously suggested that human reviewers were used to support the technology, but Jenkins clarified that these reviewers mainly label videos to train the machine learning system. He emphasized that the notion of people in India watching customers shop live in stores is inaccurate and that human reviews are conducted in a small minority of cases to ensure accuracy.
Despite facing criticism and misinformation, Amazon remains committed to advancing its Just Walk Out technology and providing innovative solutions for businesses looking to enhance the shopping experience. By transitioning to smart carts in its U.S. Fresh stores and expanding its reach to third-party enterprises, Amazon aims to stay at the forefront of cashier-less technology and cater to the evolving needs of customers in the retail sector.
