Amazon’s Checkout-Free Store Opens Monday

Amazon.com Inc. will open its checkout-free grocery store to the public on Monday after a nearly 14-month trial run open only to the company’s office in Seattle.

Amazon’s first automated grocery store promised “no lines, no checkouts, no registers” — and it could change the game for the grocery and retail industry. It was among the boldest efforts by the online retailer to reshape brick-and-mortar shopping.

The 1,800-square-foot store located on the ground floor of Amazon’s new Seattle headquarters complex is made up of hundreds of cameras and sensors. These are used to track what shoppers remove from the shelves, and what they put back. Customers are billed after leaving the store using credit cards on file.

Amazon called it “Just Walk Out” technology that uses computer vision, deep learning algorithms, and sensor fusion, which are the same advances being used to develop autonomous driving.

The store had operated well during the test phase, according to Gianna Puerini, head of Amazon Go. “This technology didn’t exist — it was really advancing the state of the art of computer vision and machine learning.”

“If you look at these products, you can see they’re super similar,” she said of 2 near-identical Starbucks drinks next to each other on a shelf. One had light cream and the other had regular, and Amazon’s technology learned to tell them apart.

The store gives you the ability to grab what you want and simply walk out. Though it’s normal to leave a slight nagging feeling that you’ve just shoplifted, you can check the Amazon Go app to make sure you’ve been charged.

“This is the definition of disruption. This is Netflix replacing Blockbuster, this is Uber replacing taxis,” said Brendan Witcher, principal analyst with Forrester Research, who shopped in the store last week.

Analysts note the disruption could also result in fewer jobs as lines of checkout clerks give way to smart stores that do their own checking out.

“73% of consumers we’ve surveyed say one of the things they most want from a company is that it values their time,” said Witcher. “Amazon Go does that.”

According to the Department of Labor, more than 3.5 million Americans held cashier jobs as of May 2016. It was estimated that 900,000 of those were in grocery stores. The Amazon Go store eliminates the need for cashiers and could make thousands of jobs redundant.

However, Amazon Go does hire people to work in the store. These people would be then a team of “associates” who prep ingredients, make prepared items, greet customers, and stock shelves.

Shares of Amazon finished at $1,294.58, with a rise of 0.10%. In after-hours trading, its shares slid 0.01% at 1,294.50.

HQBroker is here to give you a daily news roundup about forex, stocks, commodities, and indices. Open an account now and make yourself updated with essential reviews about the market.