Amazon Go, What Does This Mean For The Future?
Amazon is a company that has a strong grip on the future technology market in today’s world; how do we know what is coming next? The technology to change the future of checkouts is already here, the way its implemented is the real concern for consumers. Amazon Go, first implemented in January 2018 in Seattle Washington is life revolutionary technology to retail markets. While the stores haven’t been widespread throughout the United States, the testing of technology of this magnitude will take time. It is likely that Amazon Go’s technology will branch out from just Amazon stores. The real question is how long it will need to become a new standard for retail technology. The new system uses the Amazon app or a credit card on arrival for the customer to pay for their groceries. Amazon Go technology has the power to shape stores moving forward. The pros and cons of this system is now the greatest importance looking forward. This will shape technology in the near future, but analysis of data collection is critical.
Amazon has transformed lives. Convenience is the main motive of their innovations; Amazon Go is no different. Customers can walk into the store and walk out with their desired product without waiting. Tracking what the customers select in real time is a main factor to why the store gets so much praise, “There are weight sensors on shelves that track when items are removed” (Make Use Of). The use of these sensors is one of the main reasons why this system is so successful. The collection of advanced machinery is a new modern way. Deep learning algorithms allow for human separation. With no employees having to run the checkout of a store, it allows for Amazon to have less employees. This can be seen as a capital gain for the company which seems to meet Amazon standards.
This new technology can rapidly become a ubiquitous system. Within years this can affect a large amount of retail stores. A main concern is if there is a way to get steal products? Computer weekly broke this down with a study of customers deliberately trying to break the system. This came with no success, “People have tried to fool it and they just can’t. What store model and infrastructure enables the retailer to pick and choose who it lets in and is virtually fraud-proof in terms of what products it lets out?” (Computer Weekly). With these tests that were done, Amazon has proven that they could possibly have the new revolutionary piece of technology. Implementing it will change customers everyday lives. No waiting in lines, or having to pull out a credit card at a checkout. Once again, we can see that convenience is a major focus for technology moving forward. Each new modernization step that we take changes the lives of humans in the future forever. It is hard to tell if this is the direction that our technological world is going but Amazon seems to be making attempts to be the front runner, “Amazon is also bringing the Just Walk Out technology beyond its own walls, selling it to other retailers” (Geek Wire). Amazon taking these steps to be a proprietary way of doing retail sales is what is driving the technological advances that we are seeing. Using their own hosting for data collection is key to keeping them as a top competitor in the computer industry. The theme is going for non-human operated systems, allowing technology to do all the work for the companies.
Cost of this new design is critical to explore expansion into other stores. From when the walk out technology was first implemented till now, the cost has been reduced drastically. When the store was opened in the beginning of 2018, the cost to run the store for one year had a four million dollar evaluation. This is a steep price for normal companies to pay, making it almost impractical and impossible to buy. The most recent evaluation was in 2021 which states, “The estimated operating cost of a 1,000 square-foot cashier less location has dropped to just $159,000 per store, each year” (Charged Retail). The total amount to run the technology for one year in a store is probably comparable to the employees that they have on payroll for the year. Can we see this taking away a large quantity of jobs? Absolutely, Amazon has made similar moves in recent times, for example machines that pack orders has cost warehouse worker’s jobs. While this is beneficial for the company at a financial level, this is destruction for low-level jobs. Amazon Go stores create more high-level jobs, which is included in the price detailed above, “The costs are spread out through the fees for using Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud technology and hiring remote employees to manually verify the accuracy of the checkouts in stores, as well as other tasks” (Charged Retail).
Data tracking, a topic that needs to be kept in mind during the implementation of new technological system of this caliber. Amazon can use this in a malicious manner, “It knows what you’ve purchased and when you’ve checked out. There are so many different uses for that data that they’re only just managing to exploit” (Computer Weekly). Purchase history, time at the store, and the location are all examples of data that Amazon can use in a malicious way. There needs to be practices in place that protect the customer. If this new technology configuration becomes widespread this needs to be considered moving forward. Protection of the public needs to be kept in mind with new developments of this severity. This means that Amazon needs to be open and forward about what really goes on behind the scenes of these new stores. What do they do with the data, how is it stored, and how is it protected? All questions that need answers before a technological revolution can happen. While real time tracking is becoming more common, we must challenge companies to transparent about their data collection.
Overall Amazon Go’s new sensor, cameras, and checkout technology seems to be heading in the right direction with a multitude of benefits for the customer. The company using the walk out technology also improves predominantly from the implementation of this system. Time is key, to see the progression of the system. While it has been out for roughly four years, many developments and changes can be made in the future to make it more common.
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