Amazon Go opens its doors to public
By Retail Technology | Tuesday January 23 2018
Amazon’s groundbreaking cashier-less Amazon Go store concept has officially opened to the public on the ground floor of its Seattle headquarters
Utilising Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, the grab-and-go concept enables shoppers to make purchases through the Amazon Go app on their smartphones.
Users scan the app against a turnstile at the store's entrance and the store then logs the items they've left with through various cameras and sensors and charges the customer's Amazon account for the items.
Terry Hunter, UK MD of Astound Commerce, believes Amazon Go has reinvented the traditional retail store.
Frictionless experience
He said: “Amazon’s innovative move solves many of the issues which currently deter shoppers from going in-store, and drives them online instead. Not having to queue and being able to make purchases quickly will draw consumers to the Seattle store, with the frictionless experience – which Amazon is already known for – driving consumer loyalty. Most
importantly, though, is the link the company has established between online and physical retail, with items automatically charged to shoppers’ Amazon accounts.”
Nevertheless, Hunter believes in the short-term other grocery retailers are unlikely to follow suit with similar concepts.
He added: “Most other retailers will not be in a position to follow Amazon’s move at present. However, it is vital that brands innovate across all of their channels, and as Amazon has done, use bricks-and-mortar as an integrated, digitalised part of a wider omnichannel strategy.”
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