Followups: Amazon Go on now Go, Just Walk Out that Door
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Amazon wants to open source its cashier-less store software via an organization called Dent, but negotiations with Walmart and Target failed
by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) 2020.03.15
Retailers don’t yet plan to participate, but talks highlight Amazon’s ambition to have others adopt its technology[.]
Amazon looking to buy four NYC-area grocery stores amid coronavirus chaos
by The New York Post 2020.03.19
Amazon is on the prowl once again — and this time it’s eyeing a handful of supermarkets owned by [bankrupt] grocer Fairway Market… in New York and New Jersey, including one in Brooklyn, home to a popular waterfront mega-market in Red Hook, sources told The Post…
While some watchers speculated that the tech giant could use the stores as distribution centers, its interest in Fairway comes as Bezos ramps up his supermarket footprint.
Amazon unveils Dash Cart, a smart shopping cart that links with your Amazon account, tracks the items you place inside, and checks you out without a cashier
by The Verge 2020.07.14
The Dash Cart is coming to Amazon’s LA grocery store later [in 2020.]
Amazon Fresh pivots to free grocery delivery for Prime members
by Anthony Bardaro (@anthpb via Twitter) 2020.07.26
Amazon has finally jumped to the front-of-the-pack in the delivery wars — and all of a sudden, a future replete with on-demand groceries has started to come into focus. With help from the scale achieved via its Whole Foods acquisition — not to mention extraordinary patience — Amazon Fresh has built-up enough distribution center coverage to offer free, widespread delivery.
Now, not only do Amazon Go and JWO seem like attractive satellite offerings for 3rd parties (who will have good reason to want/need to build atop the Amazon Fresh core platform when it opens-up to 3rd party developers), but Amazon is also on-the-cusp of building-out a latticework of “grocery fulfillment gigacenters and microcenters” (which can remedy “digital groceries’ margin problem” thanks to economies of scale and automation like AI/robotics/autonomous vehicles/drones). [paraphrased]
Amazon Go’s cashierless tech may come to Whole Foods as soon as 2021
by The Verge 2020.08.24
[T]he rollout of the new technology into Whole Foods is one of two final projects that Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon’s worldwide consumer division, is focusing on before he retires early next year.
Amazon brings its cashier-free tech to a full-size grocery store for the first time in a new 25K square foot Amazon Fresh location in Seattle
by GeekWire 2021.06.15
Amazon’s newest physical grocery store opening in the Seattle area this week is unique as it will feature the company’s “Just Walk Out” cashierless technology. It’s the first time the tech has come to a full-size store and marks a milestone for Amazon given the cost and complexity of implementing such a system.
Starbucks and Amazon partner to launch Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go in Manhattan using Amazon’s Just Walk Out tech
by CNBC 2021.11.18
To take advantage of the convenience of Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology, customers can use the palm of their hand, if they’re already registered with Amazon One. Otherwise they can use an in-store code from the Amazon app or insert their credit card. A kiosk near the entry allows customers to join Amazon One by inserting a credit card and scanning their hand. Starbucks employees are nearby to help assist customers as they enter[.]
15-years in, Amazon’s grocery strategy is still unprofitable and incoherent
by CNBC 2022.02.19
Amazon[dot]com and Whole Foods accounted for a combined 2.4% [marketshare at 2022YE]… Grocery stores and deliveries are all part of what Amazon calls F3, or Fresh Food Fast.
There’s one piece of its grocery portfolio that’s orphaned from that group: Amazon Go… Four years [after its 2017 launch] there are 24 stores, a fraction of the 3,000 the company was looking to open by 2021…
The Go division has become more of a tech incubator. Its Just Walk Out technology is being tested at some Fresh locations, Whole Foods stores and full-size Go Grocery stores, which have since been rebranded under the Fresh label… Amazon has considered selling gas at Go convenience stores, along with lottery tickets and pharmaceuticals.
See also…
Amazon has now reduced tech costs of an Amazon GO store from over $4M per store at launch to just $159k now (-96%), projecting to further disinflate to a mere $59k by 2023
by Ramneek (@iramneek) 2022.02.21
Amazon ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ checkouts at its own Fresh grocery stores — and the tech was kind of a Mechanical Turk the whole time
by Gizmodo 2024.04.03
Amazon is phasing out its checkout-less grocery stores with “Just Walk Out” technology [and] Amazon Web Services [AWS] is cutting a few hundred jobs in its Physical Stores Technology team, according to internal emails. The layoffs will allegedly impact portions of Amazon’s identity and checkout teams… Just over half of Amazon Fresh stores are equipped with Just Walk Out…
Though it seemed completely [autonomous and] automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. The cashiers were simply moved off-site, and they watched you as you shopped… 700 out of 1,000 Just Walk Out sales required human reviewers as of 2022 [missing] Amazon’s internal goals of reaching less than 50 reviews per 1,000 sales…
Instead of Just Walk Out, Amazon is moving towards Dash Carts, a scanner and screen that’s embedded in your shopping cart, allowing you to checkout as you shop… Amazon Fresh stores will also feature self check out counters from now on, for people who aren’t Amazon members.
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