Cashierless on Campus

Cashierless pushes on in new environments.

Cashierless stores graduate to college campuses   by Matthew Stern  in Retailwire

Automated grocery stores have been slowly but surely popping up worldwide since the launch of Amazon Go. Now a checkout-free concept is on its way to college campuses, along with some other new tech-enhanced food solutions for students.

School food service provider Sodexo announced that it will be launching autonomous grocery stores on college campuses nationwide beginning this spring. The grocery concept is called eat>NOW, and one of the first will open on the campus of the University of Denver on April 6.

Sodexo is also making available high-tech touchscreen meal vending machines offering 80 selections including ramen and udon. Finally, the vendor is launching three delivery-only virtual restaurant concepts available through its app for universities for dorm room delivery.

AiFi, the vendor Sodexo is partnering with to implement the autonomous grocery stores, makes a turnkey solution that allows retailers to launch completely checkout-free stores similar to Amazon Go, according to TechCrunch. The solution relies on artificial intelligence and computer vision.

Earlier this year Aldi partnered with AiFi in the UK to launch its first checkout-free location in London, according to Retail Technology Innovation Hub.

While Just Walk Out technology and other gradations of cashierless checkout are not quite mainstream, they could be gaining steam in grocery. Amazon.com recently opened its second Whole Foods store equipped with Just Walk Out technology, according to Produce Blue Book. ...

Shopic Carts Get More Funding

 We tested a number of such Smart Cart Ideas.  Lost most interest in the 90s.  Now with Amazon trying related ideas.  Have just recently gained some traction.   Basic description below.

AI News

Shopic AI smart carts secure further £7.2m in funding  in ArtificialIntellligence-News.

Retail AI solutions provider Shopic has raised an additional $10 million (£7.2m) of funding, bringing its total amount raised to $21 million.

Shopic’s goal is to transform in-store shopping through its AI-powered clip-on device for shopping carts. The device recognises when shoppers add or remove items to their cart and allows them to pay without the need for a cashier or self-checkout machine.

Seemingly the next step in the nullification of supermarket employees, Shopic’s frictionless solution has enticed a number of investment companies, with Claridge Israel leading the round alongside existing investors Entrée Capital, IBI Tech Fund, and Tal Capital.

The device is already being deployed globally in selected stores of major grocery chains and this additional funding will be directed into accelerating said process and expanding the Shopic team.

“We’re excited to announce this additional funding that will help us progress more rapidly as we expand our solution into new stores and retail partners,” said Raz Golan, CEO and co-founder of Shopic.  “This investment, from a long-term growth investor such as Claridge Israel, is a vote of confidence in our approach to build and deliver frictionless retail solutions that are practical, immediately deployable, and cost-effective, without having to make major changes to the way stores are run,” he added.

Once attached to a shopping cart, the device automatically recognises items placed in or taken out of the cart in real-time, automatically registering them by price and displaying the shopper’s active receipt on the device’s screen.   ... ' 

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. ... ' 

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..... " 

...

Self Checkout is Harder than it Should be

More on the use of the automated checkout process and related issues, with links to a survey and review:

Shoppers have a love/hate relationship with self-checkouts    by Tom Ryan in Retailwire

Consumers are increasingly favoring self-checkout because of the perception that it can be faster than using a cashier. Frustrations, however, with the technology persist.

A recent Wall Street Journal article — “Stores and Shoppers Agree: Self-Checkout Is Hard” — details how Walmart has quietly disabled or removed the weight sensors used to detect miss-scanned items because too many “wait for assistance” messages were being triggered, to the annoyance of shoppers. Walmart is making use of cameras in some cases as a solution.

Theft also remains an issue at self-service registers, with tricks such as scanning a less inexpensive item becoming popular. Retailers, however, typically have an aversion to having staff confront shoplifters directly.

A recent survey sponsored by weighing technology firm Shekel Brainweigh found that nearly:

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.” ... "

Singapore Cashierless Convenience Stores

More experience with cashierless models.

Singapore's Unmanned Convenience Stores Learn from China's Failures
Nikkei Asian Review
By Dylan Loh

Unmanned stores are appealing to retailers in Singapore, where workers are in short supply and labor costs are rising. Governmental support for unmanned stores has helped spur automated retail in Singapore; government agencies such as Enterprise Singapore can contribute up to 70% of the technology costs required to launch an unmanned store. Singapore's unmanned retailers are being careful not to repeat the mistakes that led to the failure of unmanned stores in other markets. For example, a recent boom in unmanned stores in China ended almost as quickly as it started, as stores struggled to move fresh groceries. Full-scale automated retail stores worldwide will grow from fewer than 500 this year to more than 44,000 by 2023, according to ABI Research.  .... " 

More on Ahold's Cashierless Solution

More on Ahold's use of 'Cashierless' stores.   The provider of the tech was mentioned here before.  More detail at the link.

Ahold Delhaize's 'NanoStore' heads to the airport    in GroceryDive

Dive Brief:

Ahold Delhaize’s Albert Heijn grocery chain is piloting its 150-square-foot "NanoStore" at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, the fourth busiest international airport in the world​, according to a press release.

The portable store, engineered by technology company AiFi​, is open now through January at the airport's Jan Dallaert Square area. It was transported on a trailer from its original test location at Albert Heijn's headquarters, where it opened in September.

Shoppers have to use a debit card at the door to gain entry to the store. Then they can shop for products and just walk out. Upon exit, customers can verify their purchases against the receipt. No cash is accepted ..... "

Ahold Testing Cashierless

More on Ahold's working on cashierless stores.

Ahold has a go at cashierless store format    By Dan Berthiaume in CSA

A major supermarket conglomerate is taking a page from Amazon’s grocery playbook.

Ahold Delhaize USA, which operates supermarket banners including Food Lion, Giant, and Stop & Shop, is piloting a new frictionless store environment. Called “Lunchbox” and developed by the company’s Retail Business Services subsidiary, the format enables customers to scan in, shop, and walk out without having to stop at any type of checkout terminal.

Currently being tested at Retail Business Services’ office in Quincy, Mass., Lunchbox is powered by a Retail Business Services proprietary app that admits shoppers to the store and charges them for purchases. Payment services such as PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, and Google Pay are integrated into the app’s wallet.   .... "

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.

Giant Food for Frictionless Checkouts

There has been some suggestion that Amazon is backing off the idea, except in narrow contexts.  But recently there has been a newly opened store.  Here new word in the spec from Ahold, who we worked with  on several advanced tech applications, though not this one.   This includes specific description of the process, which is different than I have seen.

Have Giant Food and Stop & Shop nailed ‘frictionless’ checkouts?  includes further expert comments.   In Retailwire  By George Anderson

Retail Business Services, the technology services arm of Ahold Delhaize USA, has announced that its proprietary ScanIt Mobile frictionless checkout technology is being rolled out to nearly 30 of the grocer’s stores by the end of the year. The tech is being deployed at all of the new Giant Heirloom Markets and select Stop & Shop stores.

Customers using the ScanIt mobile app walk shop the store scanning products they wish to purchase as they go. When finished, customers go through a designated checkout lane where they see a “payment approved” message before exiting the store. Payments are processed through customers’ mobile wallets. The service accepts Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Venmo.

Individuals who prefer may also use handheld ScanIt devices supplied by the store. Here too, they scan products as they move around the store before transferring the information to the mobile app on their phones to check out. ,,, "

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.  ... "

In China: Smile to Pay

Seeming to be expanding in China.   Payment here, but to what degree also product recognition and tallying?

Smile-to-Pay: Chinese Shoppers Turn to Facial Payment Technology  in the Guardian

China is embracing facial payment technology, which allows consumers to purchase goods simply by posing in front of point-of-sale (POS) machines equipped with cameras after linking an image of their face to a digital payment system or bank account. Similar facial recognition software is already widely used by the government to monitor citizens, although authorities have been criticized for using it to crack down on dissent. Despite concerns over data security and privacy, many consumers seem unfazed by facial payment technology. Alipay—the financial arm of Alibaba—already has facial payment devices in place in 100 Chinese cities. ... " 

Sainsbury's Experiment with No Checkout

No-checkout is changed to allow for a standard pay option.   Not unexpected, consumer behavior needs to be adjusted over time.   Our local Kroger now has three distinct payment options,  all with technical implications and complexity.   Still an experiment.

Sainsbury's reinstalls tills in till-free store  in the BBC
Tills have been reinstalled in an experimental till-less shop opened by supermarket Sainsbury's.  It had been totally refurbished to remove the entire checkout area, freeing up shop assistants to help customers on the shop floor.

Customers had to scan their groceries using Sainsbury's Pay & Go app, paying for them as they went around the shop.  But it resulted in long queues at the helpdesk as people attempted to pay for their groceries in the traditional way.  .... "