AMAZON is launching its own supermarket which has no checkouts but instead relies on cameras to track what shoppers remove from shelves.
The Amazon Go store in Seattle opens to the public on Monday and promises customers they won’t have to wait in long lines as the store uses “Just Walk Out” technology.
Shoppers must scan the supermarket’s app on the gated turnstile while sleek black cameras monitoring from above and weight sensors in the shelves help Amazon determine exactly what people take.
The items customers pick up are added to a virtual shopping cart, which means that anything they put back will automatically be deleted.
Shoppers are only billed for their shopping when they leave the store through the gates, using the credit card associated with their account.
The supermarket offers ready-to-eat lunch items as well as a small selection of grocery items, including meats and meal kits.
An Amazon employee checks IDs in the store’s wine and beer section.
The 1,800 square-foot store opened to Amazon employees a year ago in a test phase and bosses had hoped to open it up to the public early last year but encountered challenges.
These included correctly identifying shoppers with similar body types and when children were brought into the store during the trial, they caused havoc by moving items to incorrect places, a source said.
Earn a fiver with Sun Savers
SUN SAVERS is the best way to get a FIVER in cash – just by reading The Sun. Here’s how…
- Sign up to Sun Savers
- Pick up today’s paper and scan in the unique code
- Collect 28 codes and Sun Savers will put £5 in your account – no strings attached
It’s that simple!
Gianna Puerini, vice president of Amazon Go, said in an interview that the store worked very well throughout the test phase, thanks to four years of prior legwork.
Ms Puerini said: “This technology didn’t exist. It was really advancing the state of the art of computer vision and machine learning.”
She explained that Amazon’s technology has learned how to tell near-identical products apart.
The Amazon Go store adds to the company’s growing physical store presence and its expansion into groceries after its purchase last year of organic grocer Whole Foods and its 470 stores.
The store will be tested in Seattle, but if its successful it could be widely rolled out, however there are no plans to introduce the technology to the Whole Foods stores.
