Amazon Go Stores Close

The fully automated checkout stores will close, unclear if this is general abandonment of the concept or just cost cutting. 

Amazon Go stores to close in cities coast to coast

8 Amazon Go stores to close April 1

By Julia Musto FOXBusiness

Cathie Wood makes a prediction about Amazon's future workforce

Ark Invest's Cathie Wood predicts Amazon will have more robot employees than humans by 2030.

Amazon is permanently closing some of its Amazon Go stores in major cities on both coasts. 

The locations include two stores in Seattle, two stores in New York City and four in San Francisco. 

"Like any physical retailer, we periodically assess our portfolio of stores and make optimization decisions along the way. In this case, we’ve decided to close a small number of Amazon Go stores in Seattle, New York City and San Francisco," an Amazon spokesperson told FOX Business in a Saturday email. 

Two of the Seattle closures will have minimum impact, as they have been shuttered for some time.    ... ' 

Starbucks and Amazon Go Joint Concept Stores

 Seems a novel approach:

Starbucks and Amazon open first joint concept store with more to come

by George Anderson  in Retailwire   with expert comments

Starbucks and Amazon.com have teamed up to open the first of at least three concept stores between the two Seattle-based retailing giants. The location at 59th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues in New York City combines Starbucks’ Pickup concept with a cashierless Amazon Go convenience store.

AMAZON C-STORE CHANNEL COFFEE RETAILING IN-STORE ANALYTICS MOBILE APPS RETAIL CONCEPTS RETAIL TECH STARBUCKS STORE DESIGN

Nov 18, 2021  by George Anderson

Starbucks and Amazon.com have teamed up to open the first of at least three concept stores between the two Seattle-based retailing giants. The location at 59th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues in New York City combines Starbucks’ Pickup concept with a cashierless Amazon Go convenience store.

Starbucks and Amazon open first joint concept store with more to come

The store is designed with Starbucks branding in mind, incorporating the chain’s traditional green blended with wood furnishings and stone countertops. The Pickup concept emphasizes the convenience of placing and paying for orders ahead using the Starbucks app. A digital screen in the store displays the status of customers’ orders, which they can pick up from a barista when complete. Walk-in customers are also welcome and have the option of ordering at the counter to take out or consume on-premises at a counter, booth or table.

Accessing the Amazon Go area of the store will require customers to call up an “in-store code” on the  Amazon app. As customers pull desired sandwiches and other items off store shelves, the app places them in a virtual cart and then submits the charges upon exiting the area.  ... ' 

Amazon Continues Grab-and-Go Rollouts

 Amazon still thinks the 'Go' concept is a good one, perhaps with locational interests, now a roll out in London. 

Amazon will open the doors to a grab-and-go, checkout-less grocery store on Thursday  By Tonya Garcia

Amazon Fresh grocery store with ‘Just Walk Out’ technology will also offer customers the option for a traditional grocery transaction

The new Amazon Fresh grocery store will have "pay-by-palm" and "Just Walk Out" technologies.  

Amazon Fresh is opening a grocery store in Bellevue, Wash. on Thursday, June 17 that will offer customers the chance to grab and go without standing on line at a checkout lane.

The launch is the latest in a grocery technology war that is making a trip to the store for milk, bread and eggs a digitally-advanced experience.

The newest Amazon Fresh grocery store will feature the company’s “Just Walk Out” technology that allows shoppers to place things in their cart and leave the store without a stop at the cash register to pay the bill.

Read: Amazon picks London for first checkout-free physical store outside the U.S.

Instead, shoppers can wave their palm, scan a QR code in the Amazon AMZN, 0.39% app or use a credit or debit card upon entry. Customers repeat the mode of payment on their way out the door and receive a digital receipt on their Amazon account. ... ' 

Future of Today's Retail

 All will have an impact, demise no, efficiency yes. 

The future of retail: Do robots, A.I., and AR spell demise for stores?   By Jeremy Kaplan, in DigitalTrends

A robot started prowling the aisles at my local Stop & Shop grocery store a few months ago, a tall, thin drink of water with big, ridiculous googly eyes at the top of its 7-foot-tall frame. Called Marty, the 140-pound robot was first rolled out in 2019 and is continuing to expand his empire, finally reaching the Long Island store I’ve been frequenting. Huzzah?

Marty spots spills and other hazards, and … well, that’s it. Sure, “cleanup on aisle nine” just got more interesting, but his capabilities are limited. Nice try, guys.

Meanwhile, Amazon Go stores are pioneering retail at a whole different level, automatically detecting you as your car enters the parking lot, leaning on A.I. to determine whether you’re merely eyeing the aioli or purchasing those potatoes, and automagically charging your credit card as you stroll through the exits — no swipe required. Retail today is nothing like the shopping malls of yesterday, and the future of retail is headed in a new direction entirely.

Today: What’s in your cart? Amazon knows

The retail world was prepared to be upset by beacons a few years ago. Using tiny Bluetooth sensors from Apple, Kontakt, Estimote, BlueSense and others, retailers were reportedly going to track our progress down the aisle and inundate us with offers, sensing us dawdling over the tie rack. “Buy this right now and I’ll give you 10% off!” That concept clearly hasn’t soared, yet technology has poured into retail at an unprecedented pace.

Consider those Amazon Go stores. How exactly do they know what you’re doing in the store, and determine what’s in your basket and what you need to pay for? Do cameras simply look over your shoulder and record what goes in the cart? .... ' 

Just Walk Out: Cashierless Shopping

Being tested in a number of Amazon Go Stores.   Pushing convenience.   In my cook role would love to be able to 'just walk out' with an ingredient item or two.  Is it enough to get me to use Amazon Fresh or Amazon Go stores?

Amazon Quietly Began Building a Grocery Chain During Pandemic

The company has opened 11 Amazon Fresh stores around the U.S., with plans for at least 28 more, as it tries to lure mainstream shoppers. 

By Matt Day in Bloomberg  March 11, 2021, 5:00 AM EST

As many businesses struggled to survive the pandemic, Amazon.com Inc. was quietly building a national grocery chain.

The first Amazon Fresh store opened to the public in Los Angeles in September. Store No. 11 opened Thursday, and Amazon is working on at least 28 more, from Philadelphia to the Sacramento suburbs. The company is also testing the “Just Walk Out” cashierless shopping technology created for its Go convenience stores at an Amazon Fresh location in Illinois.  ... " 

Amazon-Go to be Put into Whole Foods?

This would be interesting, broadening the AI item ID capability to determine purchase.  Still it seems a rumor. Would seem other grocery would be driven that way because of lower labor costs.

Amazon Go’s cashierless tech may come to Whole Foods as soon as next year
Amazon introduced its cashierless tech in 2016

By Taylor Lyles@TayNixster 
Amazon may be looking to bring the cashierless tech found at its Go convenience stores to Whole Foods supermarkets as early as next year, the New York Post reports.

Amazon may start implementing the tech in Whole Foods sometime during the second quarter of 2021, according to the New York Post’s source. This technology, which is currently available in more than 20 Amazon Go convenience store locations, uses cameras, sensors, and computer vision to let customers walk out the store with groceries in hand and avoid cashier checkout lines.

The New York Post’s source claims the rollout of the new technology into Whole Foods is one of two final projects that Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon’s worldwide consumer division, is focusing on before he retires early next year.  ... " 

Amazon: Re-Emergence of the Smart Cart

We looked at many applications of the smart shopping cart for work in our innovation centers.  The idea seemed to fade then, after 2010,  and none of them succeeded in real practice.  Now surprisingly, Amazon, which has been  doing automatic checkout without the smart cart, has come up with a cart.  Perhaps for enticing bigger buys?  It often too allowed a means to market to the shopper.  See my many posts over years in the 'Smart Cart', tag below, for a history of the space.

Amazon’s new ‘smart’ shopping cart uses sensors to enable cashierless stores   By Maria Deutscher in SiliconAngle

Amazon.com Inc. today pulled back the curtains on its latest retail technology project: a “smart shopping cart” called the Dash Cart that enables store goers to buy groceries without waiting in a checkout line.

Amazon, best known for its e-commerce marketplace, also has a $4 billion-plus brick-and-mortar division. The company is experimenting with cashierless stores that enable customers to walk out with their items and be billed automatically. The Dash Cart is a new evolution of the concept that could help speed up Amazon’s retail expansion, as well advance its plans of becoming a store technology supplier to other retailers.

The Dash Cart (pictured) will first launch in Amazon’s Los Angeles grocery store. It uses a scale, cameras, sensors and computer vision to detect when an item is placed in the cart, as well as if it’s removed later on. When a user is done shopping, they pass through a Dash Cart Lane in the store where their purchase is billed to their Amazon account.  .... "

And further:

Did Amazon just put its Go technology in a shopping cart?  
by George Anderson in Retailwire

Amazon.com is rolling out a new smart shopping cart — Amazon Dash Cart — that will eliminate the need for customers to stop at registers in order to check out of a store.


Similar in some ways to the Just Walk Out technology used in Amazon’s Go convenience format, Dash Cart is designed for small-to-medium sized grocery trips of up to two bags. It uses computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion to identify items placed by shoppers in the cart. When shoppers are ready to check out of the store, they exit through a marked Dash Cart lane where sensors identify the cart and payment is processed using the credit card they use on the Amazon site....'

BBC Reports Amazon is Offering Checkout Tech to Other Stores

Makes sense, Amazon has developed means for automatic checkout tech.  Which requires data and AI methods for its use,  Amazon and AWS is an expert at that.  In our own lab work with IBM and retail security system providers, we noted its similarity to product identification and tracking.

Amazon's Just Walk Out till-free tech offered to rivals  By Leo Kelion, BBC

Amazon opened its largest Go Grocery shop, last month, in Seattle
Amazon is offering its till-less technology to other High Street shops, just over two years after launching it via its own Go Grocery chain.

Go Grocery shoppers scan a smartphone app as they arrive, allowing them to pay via their main Amazon accounts.

It has now adapted its Just Walk Out system for other retailers so shoppers register a payment card on entry and are automatically billed as they leave.

But, unlike at Go Grocery, it will not use the data to track customer habits.

"We only collect the data needed to provide shoppers with an accurate receipt," Amazon's website says.

"Shoppers can think of this as similar to typical security camera footage."

The system involves fitting a shop with hundreds of cameras and depth-sensors, whose data is then remotely analysed on Amazon's computer servers.

The software can distinguish whether a shopper has picked up and kept a product for purchase or if they have only examined an item before replacing it back on a shelf.

Amazon says it can install the required equipment in "as little as a few weeks".  ...." 

Amazon Advances Checkout-free

Reuters report on further work by Amazon Cashier-free applications.  The claim is that major problems with the approach have been resolved.

Amazon launches business selling automated checkout to retailers
By Jeffrey Dastin, Reuters

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) on Monday is set to announce a new business line selling the technology behind its cashier-less convenience stores to other retailers, the company told Reuters.
The world’s biggest web retailer said it has “several” signed deals with customers it would not name. A new website Monday will invite others to inquire about the service, dubbed Just Walk Out technology by Amazon.

The highly anticipated business reflects Amazon’s strategy of building out internal capabilities - such as warehouses to help with package delivery and cloud technology to support its website - and then turning those into lucrative services it offers others.....

See also in Engadget:

Amazon's checkout-free tech is heading to other retailers
A number of partners have already signed up for the 'Just Walk Out' system.   By Rachel England .... '

Amazon Continues Work on Cashierless Systems

Despite some reports that Amazon was decreasing work on cashierless systems:

Amazon Opens Cashierless Supermarket in Latest Push to Sell Food in the WSJ

The e-commerce giant is also looking into licensing the checkout-free technology to rival retailers
By Sebastian Herrera and Aaron Tilley 

Amazon.com Inc. rolled out its checkout-free “Go” technology in a large grocery store and plans to license the cashierless system to other retailers.

Amazon Go Grocery opened in Seattle on Tuesday. It uses an array of cameras, shelf sensors and software to allow shoppers to pick up items as varied as organic produce and wine and walk out without stopping to pay or scan merchandise. Accounts are automatically charged through a smartphone app once shoppers leave the store..... " 

...

7 Eleven Experiments with No Cashier Store

Would imagine this concept would work best where speed is of the essence.  Another test to watch.

7-Eleven tries out an Amazon Go-like store  in Retailwire by George Anderson plus expert comments. 

Convenience store giant 7-Eleven has announced it is testing a “cashierless” concept at its corporate headquarters in Irving, TX.

The 700-square-foot, non-traditional store currently stocks some of the chain’s most popular food, drink and non-food products. The pilot program is only open to company employees who use 7-Eleven’s mobile app to check into the store, pay for items and receive their receipts.

“Ultimately, our goal is to exceed consumers’ expectations for faster, easier transactions and a seamless shopping experience,” said Mani Suri, 7-Eleven senior vice president and chief information officer, in a statement. “Introducing new store technology to 7-Eleven employees first has proven to be a very productive way to test and learn before launching to a wider audience. They are honest and candid with their feedback, which enables us to learn and quickly make adjustments to improve the experience.” ... "

Amazon to Open New Physical Retail

Of interest, more Amazon competition to current retail, and note the cashierless tech not being included.  Why not?   Too expensive?  We saw that as an issue with large scale stores, the physical inclusion of cameras and their maintenance could be considerable.    Much more at the link.

Amazon says it'll roll out a new grocery store format next year
It'll be different from Whole Foods and won't use Amazon Go's cashierless tech.  By Kris Holt, @krisholt  in Engadget

Amazon is wading further into the physical retail world as it confirmed plans to open a different type of grocery store in 2020. Reports earlier this year suggested Amazon was working on a low-cost grocery format as an alternative to Whole Foods and Amazon Go.

The company told CNET it's "opening a grocery store in Woodland Hills [a suburban Los Angeles neighborhood] in 2020." It posted four job listings for the outlet, which it described as "Amazon's first grocery store." It's hiring two grocery associates who'll replenish stock and handle points of sale, a food service associate who'll work food counters and a team lead.  .... " 

I happened to look up the entry for Amazon Go in the Wikipedia, good overview of the effort and current state and controversy involved.

Smart Carts aiding Self-Checkout

We spent much time examining and testing the idea of a 'smart cart', but none of them ever became commercially viable.    See my coverage at the tag.  Hand held dedicated devices became the replacement, and later the no-checkout idea promoted by 'Amazon Go'.

Tired of Long Lines? Canadian Grocery Chain Debuts Smart Carts with Self-Checkout   The Washington Post   By Peter Holley

Nova Scotia, Canada-based grocery chain Sobeys has launched a pilot program using intelligent shopping carts that scan and weigh items, and help customers skip long checkout lines by allowing them to pay on the spot. Sobeys' Smart Cart fleet features touchscreens that display a running count of purchases as shoppers scan and place their items in bags within the cart; customers can pay as soon as their shopping is completed. Sobeys says that as the carts are upgraded, their screens will help customers navigate stores, fill out shopping lists, and suggest products for recipes. The carts are equipped with high-resolution cameras which, when combined with scales, enable shoppers to add items to their purchase without entering information or scanning bar codes. ... "

More Amazon Go

Another example of extending the idea.  Mostly in small convenience formats due to costs.

Silicon Valley Takes on a New Amazon Cashierless Store

The Wall Street Journal
By Sebastian Herrera

Amazon recently opened its fourth cashierless Go convenience store in San Francisco, located within a few blocks of the other three. Nearby, two startups are each demonstrating their own technology that could power cashier-free stores across the country. This area of San Francisco is emerging as a battleground to eliminate the traditional checkout process and reinvent the way consumers shop. Amazon, along with startups Zippin and Standard Cognition, use technology equipped with camera systems powered by computer vision and machine learning software that track people as they take items off the shelves. The companies are pitching their systems to grocery chains, sports stadiums, and convenience stores, promising to automate the checkout process, reduce theft, and improve profit margins. The technology is currently only being tested in small convenience-store concepts selling packaged goods, because it is relatively expensive for a big-box retailer to adopt such systems on a wide scale. ... " 

Amazon Go to License to Retailers

Makes sense, also allows additional retail experimentation with the idea.

Amazon may be about to explore yet another revenue stream, this time using the technology that powers its cashier-free Go stores.  in Digitaltrends  The company is looking into the idea of licensing its technology to other retailers, and is already in talks with a number of businesses, according to a CNBC report on Tuesday, October 2. ... " 

Is Amazon Go Failing and if so Why?

Pace of adoption may note indicate longer term use.   I think it will have the power of novelty if run well enough in the right context.    Will continue to follow.

Is Amazon Go heading for a hard stop?
by Matthew Stern  In Retailwire, with additional expert comment.

From the public relations push that followed the 2018 launch of Amazon Go, one might have surmised that it was only a matter of time until Just Walk Out technology supplanted all other forms of checkout in brick-and-mortar retail. This impression was bolstered by a report later that year that Amazon.com wanted to have some 3,000 Go stores in operation by 2021. A recent report indicates, however, that Amazon Go’s footprint is not expanding at anywhere near the pace once anticipated.

Amazon had planned to open 56 Go locations by the end of 2019 and 156 by the end of 2020, according to a story originally broken by The Information and discussed on The Verge. Amazon has in fact opened only 15 Go stores, all located in major metropolitan areas.

The apparent slowdown in expansion could be the result of numerous factors such as, among other possibilities, the cost of deployment, difficulty scaling the technology to handle more foot traffic and larger locations or concerns about low rates of shopper adoption outside of city centers.  ... "

Bring Your Cash

New types of regulation

Amazon Go doesn’t want to leave cash on the table   In Retailwire with further expert comment
by Santi Briglia

In the face of growing criticism that cashless retail technology will leave a big portion of the consumer population in the U.S. behind, Amazon.com has revealed that it plans to allow customers who shop at its Amazon Go stores to pay with cash.

Steve Kessel, senior vice president of physical stores at Amazon, announced to employees in an all-hands meeting last month that the company is planning additional payment options at Amazon Go stores, according to CNBC. The announcement came in response to concerns that there is an element of “discrimination and elitism” to be found in Just Walk Out technology. The technology as it is currently deployed requires shoppers to have a smartphone associated with a credit card or bank account that can be automatically billed upon leaving the store. This prevents those without access to such financial products — a population made up disproportionately of immigrants, minorities and lower-income people — from shopping there.

The move appears to mark a turnaround in Amazon’s stance on compulsory cashlessness.  ... "

Another Amazon Go Store

Why is Amazon building brick-and-mortar locations?   In Supermarketnews:

Amazon adds to physical retail footprint with latest Go store
Jeff Bezos highlights importance of brick-and-mortar locations to shareholders  By Russell Redman

Moving ahead with its brick-and-mortar expansion, Amazon.com Inc. this week opened a new Amazon Go cashierless store in San Francisco, its 11th overall.

Located at 575 Market St., the 1,750-square-foot store marks the third Amazon Go in the city. Customers can choose from an array of ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack options made by the store’s kitchen or brought in from favorite local kitchens and bakeries.  .... " 

Video Analytics

Or will other advanced techniques remove checkout lines entirely?

NRF: Is video analytics the solution to ending long checkout lines?  in Retailwire  by Matthew Stern  with expert commentary

Customer disdain for standing in long lines can lead them to leave the store before making a purchase or even avoid entering a store entirely. A session yesterday at NRF’s Big Show  explored how the European convenience chain, Rossmann, has reduced wait times with the implementation of a predictive video analytics solution, which aims to stop lines before they form.  

The solution used by Rossman incorporated facial recognition technology through its CCTV system to identify and count entering and exiting customers. Stores identify the age and gender of shoppers and, in conjunction with statistics on average dwell time, determine when a given customer is likely to head to the checkout. The system sends text messages to associates or makes PA announcements when customers, statistically speaking, are likely to be on the way to check out their purchases.

Rossman has found that wait times of eight minutes of more have been virtually eliminated, while those more than five minutes in length have been cut by some 70 percent.

When using facial recognition is used, however, retailers will undoubtedly face shopper concerns about privacy. The service provider, Ultinous, claims that while its system is able to recognize repeat customers, it does so without personally identifying them.  ... ' 

Sams Can Scan Product as Opposed to Barcodes

Different than Amazon Go,  probably will not get the same same exposure.

Sam’s Club Files Patent for Scan & Go Technology
Retailer's members will begin testing the new app this spring     By WGB Staff

Walmart's Sam’s Club division has developed what it describes as "next-level" scan and go technology in its Dallas-based innovation lab that will enable members to recognize products from any angle without requiring them to search for a barcode on the package. The membership warehouse club retailer has filed a patent for its new mobile-first shopping experience and will soon allow members to test it beginning this spring using the Sam’s Club Now app.

In a blog post on Sam's Club's website, Eddie Garcia, VP of product and member experience, said that the retailer anticipates incorporating the same technology, which uses computer vision and machine learning, for associates to use as well to improve productivity and make it easier to serve members.

"At its core, Sam’s Club Now will be a technology lab that doubles as a live, retail club. It’s where we will incubate, test and refine technologies to help define the future of retail," Garcia said. "The future of retail is as much about people as it is about technology. ... "