No checkout needed: Amazon opens cashier-less grocery store

[turbinetree]

By JOSEPH PISANI
2 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is aiming to kill the supermarket checkout line.

The online retailing giant is opening its first cashier-less supermarket, the latest sign that Amazon is serious about shaking up the $800 billion grocery industry.

At the new store, opening Tuesday in Seattle, shoppers can grab milk or eggs and walk out without checking out or opening their wallets. Shoppers scan a smartphone app to enter the store. Cameras and sensors track what’s taken off shelves. Items are charged to an Amazon account after leaving.

Called Amazon Go Grocery, the new store is an expansion of its 2-year-old chain of Amazon Go convenience stores. At 10,400 square feet, the supermarket is more than five times the size of the smaller stores, and stocks more items beyond the sodas and sandwiches found at Amazon Go. The new market stocks fresh baked bread, blood oranges, butternut squash and other food to whip up dinner or stock the fridge.

Amazon is not new to groceries. It made a splash in 2017 when it bought Whole Foods and its 500 stores. It’s also been expanding its online grocery delivery service. But it’s still far behind rival Walmart, the nation’s largest grocer, which has more than 4,700 stores. Walmart has also found success with its online grocery service, that lets shoppers buy online and then pickup at stores.

https://apnews.com/623bd4cd2b6c949d9d9411090447c371

[cannabis_flower]

1. Hmmm

Interesting. I hope it is also just as good at tracking what is put back on the shelf or left in the wrong aisle after the customer decides they really don't want or need it.

[Butterflylady]

2. True, but people still like to shop

For their meats and produce. I gave Walmarts shopping on line a chance while I was doing chemo and letting them shop for meats and produce was a giant mistake. Give Amazon time and they'll outdo walmart.

The only bad thing about Amazons new venture is how many jobs will be lost.

[lynintenn]

3. My son loves Amazon GO in downtown Chicago.

There is one in his office building. He orders and pays from his phone and then picks up his items on his way to the parking garage. No checkout.

[Me.]

4. Yeah, Just What I Want

Amazon tracking even more of my info and complete access to the info in my phone

[lettucebe]

5. Yeah, no -- hackers dream

I would never feel comfortable simply "trusting" the store's ability to scan my person (wallet, and whatever else they feel like tracking). There's simply no way to know if you are being charged what a product was marked -- I also don't appreciate the scanners at check stands since they too don't give you a chance to correct a mistaken price. When cashiers used to call out the price, you could catch a mistake. Now, no. This is just too over the top and unless there's a huge discount for the lack of employees, I say no thanks.

[PTWB]

6. No way to know what you're being charged?

Surely you could look at the (digital) receipt after. If their grocery system is anything like their e-commerce system, disputing issues should be as easy as clicking a button.

Despite all of amazon’s flaws, I applaud them for these types of innovations. Time is the ultimate currency and standing in line at the grocery store for 15 minutes to wait for the cashier is soul draining.