Amazon creates checkout-free physical grocery store
Online retail giant Amazon has launched a US store called Amazon Go where no checkout is required.
The company’s Just Walk Out Shopping experience allows customers using the Amazon Go app to enter the store, take the products they want and leave without visiting a checkout.
The technology automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to the shelves and keeps track of them in a virtual cart. When customers finish shopping, they just leave the store and Amazon charges their account and sends them a receipt.
Amazon said the 1,800 square feet store in Seattle is “conveniently compact” so customers can get in and out quickly.
The store sells ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack options made fresh every day by on-site chefs and local kitchens and bakeries as well as a selection of grocery items including bread, milk, artisan cheeses and locally made chocolates. It also stocks Amazon Meal Kits which have all ingredients for making a meal for two in around 30 minutes.
Amazon Go is currently open to Amazon employees in its Beta programme, and will open to the public in early 2017.
