Never let the facts get in the way of a good story

A few weeks ago, some readers may have noticed how a few irresponsible “journalists” applied the golden rule of never allowing the facts to get in the way of a good story in their reporting of Amazon’s decision to replace its Just Walk Out checkout-free technology at its Amazon Fresh stores with Dash Carts.

Let’s start with the facts: Amazon is not abandoning Just Walk Out technology: it has simply seen that while it works very well in small stores, such as Amazon Go, where it was originally launched in January 2018, it doesn’t work so well in its larger supermarkets; this is because one thing is buying a couple of last-minute items, and another is a week’s shopping that fills a whole cart. In the first case, you’re looking for convenience, you go in, get what you want, and leave without waiting in line. In the second case, you want to know how much you are spending, for example, and you can benefit from features such as on-screen guidance as you search for a product in different aisles.

Which is why Amazon has decided to introduce Dash Carts, which allow Amazon Fresh customers to skip the checkout line and directly bag their purchases on the go, but for a greater number of items. Amazon, in its tradition of turning everything it develops into a platform, is also offering the same technology to other supermarket chains.