Amazon.com is undoubtedly one of the biggest website retailers and in 2017 they are changing the game by merging the digital and physical worlds of shopping.
Their newest addition to the e-commerce world is a supermarket with no queues and no checkouts. For customers, it’s simple, but behind the scenes there is some really fancy mechanics going on. They call it Just Walk Out technology.
Compared to the function of self-driven cars, Just Walk Out is a combination of “computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning.” This means that products are detected coming off and being placed back on the shelf, subsequently accumulating a total price to your own virtual ‘cart.’
Using the “world’s most advanced shopping technology,” Amazon Go customers can walk in, grab what they want and walk straight out without paying.
An Amazon Go supermarket will stock all the typical staples from fruit and vegetables to bread and milk. Additionally on offer will be their ready-to-eat, daily made breakfast, lunch and dinner options, as well as “chef-designed Amazon Meal Kits, with all the ingredients you need to make a meal for two in about 30 minutes.”
In theory, a customer uses their Amazon Go app to enter, grab groceries and then walk straight out. Amazon will charge your credit card afterwards and email a receipt. All you need to do to be an Amazon Go customer is have an Amazon account, a smart phone and the free app.
Currently, the only store, in Seattle, is for Amazon employees only. The first public Amazon Go shop will open to the public in early 2017.
