5 Things to Know About Amazon Go

Recently, Amazon unveiled their newest concept called Amazon Go. While Amazon has taken over and changed the face of many industries, most notably books, they have been looking to get into grocery. While Amazon has had Amazon Fresh, a grocery delivery business, everyone is now talking about their brick and mortar grocery concept which is called Amazon Go. Here is what you need to know when it comes to Amazon Go.

1. What’s the Difference Between Amazon Go and my Regular Grocery Store?

The idea behind Amazon Go is to make the grocery shopping experience convenient and quick. The biggest difference is there is no checkout. No line, no cashier, no wait. You simply walk in, grab the products that you want and walk out. The checkout process is being eliminated by using Amazon’s “Just Walk Out Shopping” technology.

2. How Does “Just Walk Out Shopping” Technology Work?

The technology is built on a similar concept to self-driving cars. Using computer vision, sensor technology and deep learning the technology can automatically detect when products are moving. For example, if the product is taken off the shelf and then put back it will go from being in your virtual cart to out of your virtual cart. In a sense, it is almost tracking every move of the product.

3. How to Pay

Payment is done using the “Just Walk Out Shopping” technology. It requires the shopper to have an Amazon account and the Amazon Go app. Simply open the app when you go into the store and the technology will track what is in your cart. When you exit the store it will trigger your cart to checkout and charge your Amazon account.

4. What is the Store Like?

Per Amazon, the average store will be approximately 1,800 square feet in size. The selection will focus on ready-to-eat meals for all times of the day with on-site chefs doing the work. In addition to ready-to-eat meals there will be Amazon Meal Kits which sound to be similar to Blue Apron packages with all the ingredients needed to make a meal yourself. There will also be grocery staples as well as featured products that Amazon is recommending and local products as well varying from baked goods to artisan chocolates.

5. When Can I Start Shopping with Amazon Go?

At the current moment, Amazon Go is in beta testing with a physical location in Seattle that is only open to Amazon employees. For public access, Amazon is targeting early 2017 with no statement where additional locations are expected to be located and how many locations there will be. You can be notified of updates on when new stores open here.

This could have a huge impact on how brick and mortar retail is handled in the future. If Amazon opens these stores throughout the country, other grocery stores and stores in general will have to compete with the convenience that Amazon is providing. Some may survive and some may not which may lead to vacant commercial grocery spaces in the future which may give some opportunity if the spaces can be transformed to something different.