Joe Issa “Just Walk Out” Shopping Experiencing for Jamaica
Businessman and technology enthusiast Joe Issa, who first introduced electronic ‘EZ’ calling card to Jamaica, is eyeing yet another first, by bringing to the island the “Just Walk Out” shopping experience, an Amazon Go concept of shops with no registers or cashiers.
“Yes. It is a great idea. I would like to introduce it in all Cool Corp stores. It is the shopping experience of the future. It is convenient and saves time, which means money, especially to working people with little slack on their schedule,” said Issa, when asked to comment on the Amazon Go concept of a store without registers, cashiers, lines and checkouts.
The interview came on Associated Press reports that the giant online retailer had recently opened its Amazon Go concept to the public, selling milk, potato chips and other items typically found at a convenience store. Amazon employees are said to have been testing the store, which is on the bottom floor of the company’s Seattle headquarters, for about a year.
According to other online reports, the technology being used to support Amazon Go is similar to the one used in self-driving cars, such as computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning, which suggest there are cameras and other means of identifying each customer and what they pick up from the shelf
They say the way the technology works is simple: Customers are allowed entry into the store through a turnstile where they scan their Amazon Go app on their smartphones, then they pick up the items on the shelves, put them in a bag provided in the store or one which they carried and just walk out through the exit point at which they are immediately charged through their Amazon account, and a receipt to them sent via the phone, showing what they bought and their prices.
The public opening, according to the AP article, is believed to be “another sign that Amazon is serious about expanding its physical presence. It has opened more than a dozen bookstores, taken over space in some Kohl’s department stores and bought Whole Foods last year, giving it 470 grocery stores.”
The company was quoted informing that “it uses computer vision, machine learning algorithms and sensors to figure out what people are grabbing off its store shelves” and that the store is not without employees. Amazon reportedly said there would be people there making food, stocking shelves and helping customers. At the public opening, workers were apparently on hand to help shoppers find and download the Amazon Go app on their phones.
According to AP, “Amazon says families can shop together with just one phone scanning everyone in. Anything they grab from the shelf will also be added to the tab of the person who signed them in. However, don’t help out strangers: Amazon warns that grabbing an item from the shelf for someone else means you will be charged for it.”
At about 1,800 square feet, the store will also sell ready-to-eat breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Items from the Whole Foods 365 brand are also stocked, such as cookies, popcorn and dried fruit, it said.
The article added that Amazon announced the Amazon Go store in December 2016 and said it would open by early 2017, but it delayed the debut while it worked on the technology and company employees tested it out.
Other reports said Amazon applied for the patent in 2015, for what is called “Just Walk Out” technology. Amazon calls it “Just Walk Out” shopping experience. The store works with the Amazon Go application — you enter Amazon Go, take the products you want, and thanks to the app, just walk out.
