Amazon Just Opened a Cashierless Grocery Store
The Amazon Go Grocery store marks the latest in Amazon’s battle against lines in retail.
Amazon opened its first grocery store that has the fully automatic check-out system that we’re now used to from its “Go” stores on February 25th in Seattle. The opening marks the online retailers first major foray into the grocery store market that’s now dominated by Walmart in the United States.
Amazon Go Grocery works just like its little brother, Amazon Go. You walk in, scan your Amazon barcode at one of the turnstiles, pick up all of your grocery items, and just walk out. A couple of minutes later your receipt is delivered to your app and your email. The added complexity of a larger grocery store with more granular variation between items and more opportunities for customers to pick up and put down their items will be a real test of Amazon’s smart shopping technology.
The grocery store marks the latest in Amazon’s pursuit of the offline retail market, continuing to advance and grow its business from the online retail market that it has long dominated.
The convenience and simplicity of Amazon Go stores are right in line with the same principles of their online retail business. Much like how many Americans can not imagine going back to a time when they weren’t able to order everything imaginable and have it shipped to them in just two days, the Amazon Go model has the potential to prove the same point in in-person retail shopping. Avoiding checkout lines and payment processes could very well be the sort of thing we marvel at in 20 years, wondering how we ever could have done it any other way.
But until then, Amazon’s grocery store will be its next advancement in a long line of impressive achievements in the era of convenience.
Amazon Go Grocery is located at 610 E Pike St, Seattle, WA 98122.
