If you haven’t heard yet, Amazon has created a “Just Walk Out shopping experience” in its new brick and mortar store Amazon Go. What does this mean for consumers? It means no more wasting time in lines – just grab what you need and get out of there! Running errands and grocery shopping just got a lot easier.
So like us, you are probably thinking “wow, that is revolutionary…but how?” Amazon says all you need is the Amazon Go app and this is made possible through technologies used in self-driving cars that will enable automatic tracking when products are taken off the shelf and returned. Once you leave the store, your purchase will be charged to your Amazon account.
But how do they prevent theft? We aren’t entirely sure, but we do know that shopping at Amazon Go may feel a lot like stealing (as suggested by GQ), and this unique shopping experience won’t be available to us until early 2017. Currently, this 1,800 square feet grocery store in Seattle is only open to Amazon employees as they go through Beta testing.
How disruptive is this? Very. For one, those impulsive buys you make waiting in line won’t be possible. How about the cheerful cashier that greets you at checkout? So long farewell. Is this the future of retail? Perhaps. Though potentially a slow adoption thanks to Amazon’s patent, one thing is for sure, Amazon is going to be making a lot of money.