How about an egg salad sandwich and bottle of water, and have it in my hand in 30 seconds...
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Amazon Opens Checkout-Free 'Amazon Go' Grocery Store to the Public in Seattle
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How about an egg salad sandwich and bottle of water, and have it in my hand in 30 seconds...
How would RFID be able to associate purchases to a particular customer? Remember that in Amazon's current scenario, customers only have to tap in and out. No other interaction.
Our stores doing the shopping and delivery have switched to professional shoppers. A slew of startups offering the shopper, delivery, and billing now exist. One thing we do not get for the convenience, coupons and or other discounts. Note, Costco also starting up their service. Same day and two day depending on the merchandise. Change is happening.
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Amazon will be aggressive with prices, at least for the short term.
Pick Up a 1 lb. bag of peanuts and also a 1 lb. bag of pistachios, which are priced very differently, and then return the bag of peanuts to the pistachios's shelf. Presto, get a bag of pistachios for peanuts.
I can picture Indiana Jones now...
great, now we are going to fire all the cashiers left when this tech expands to all groceries! just great!
i never use self check out anywhere (library, groceries). I go to cashier with hopes that management daily report shows that there is still customers that insist on going to a cashier and atleast keep someone employed. I shop late at night and still insist that the cashier open up instead of the self checkout.
i never use self check out anywhere (library, groceries). I go to cashier with hopes that management daily report shows that there is still customers that insist on going to a cashier and atleast keep someone employed. I shop late at night and still insist that the cashier open up instead of the self checkout.
Then they would need to attach RFID to each object, cameras and scales means they can simply stock the shelves and walk away.
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That would be simple, the RFID reader would be at the checkout, it would instantly "scan" all objects in the cart being pushed through, the customer then taps out and it associates everything to that customer.
But doing this would mean that the customer wouldn't get a running total of their purchases and would be more likely to overspend their budget.
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Umm, don't forget time to drive/walk/etc. to the store, find a parking space (if driving) and then the travel back. All of that can add up to an hour or more in many cities and you can often have the delivery in that same time frame in said cities.
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If you read the article, they did initially have issues with that as kids tend to do exactly this, but they have sorted it out during the trial.
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Not at all, we have these items delivered via Amazon Fresh or Prime Now all the time.
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In other words exactly what Amazon Fresh offers, well almost exactly, Amazon Fresh also offers to bring it inside your house for you if you select a scheduled attended delivery (meaning you must be home).
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This is why there are cameras AND weight sensors and is exactly why Amazon has worked so hard on product image recognition over the last few years.I hate when I see that. And there is a special place in hell for people that leave frozen food items on a shelf for canned soup.
That said, I also think there could be issues with this system. I remember staying at a nice hotel on vacation. My 9 year old daughter was bored and thought it would be nice to make sure all the items in the mini bar were all facing forward. By lifting each one the hotel's billing system was triggered and automatically charged my room for a purchase--of everything in the mini bar. There was no "I put it back" functionality. Thankfully they refunded the huge charge I saw on my bill when checking out.
In the case of Amazon people might even game the system. Pick Up a 1 lb. bag of peanuts and also a 1 lb. bag of pistachios, which are priced very differently, and then return the bag of peanuts to the pistachios's shelf. Presto, get a bag of pistachios for peanuts.
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Actually, stores that have installed self checkout lanes have found that their business increases so much that they have to hire more people, yes less are cashiers, but overall there is a net increase in the number of employees and the employees that they have to hire make more money per hour than the cashiers. So, in all honesty getting rid of cashiers isn't a bad thing for employment, in fact it is good.
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No, they wouldn't, RFID chips can be read from a distance without issue.
This will allow Amazon to eliminate all cashiers at Whole Foods.
This will facilitate the reduction or elimination of the floor staff at Whole Foods. Through the use of sophisticated ai and machine learning algorithms the video surveillance system will know when to replenish the shelves through the use of autonomous devices.
Furthermore the video surveillance system will know the best product placement combinations for specific times of day.
So to answer your question the reason Amazon is doing this is to increase profits through the elimination of the work force.
Major changes are already taking place at Whole Foods.
New lighting throughout the stores to aid in camera acquisition of products.
Reduction or elimination of behind wall stocking as truck to shelf placement will be carried out via autonomous devices.
Welcome to the new Whole Foods.
I’m excited about the potential in this and will be swinging by the Amazon Go store later to check it out.
This concept gives me hope. This Saturday it took me 20 minutes to check out at the local QFC here because folks were being chatty Kathy’s with cashiers since they knew them.
Supermarket is not the place to chat and hold up the line. Want to chat? Great do it when I am not waiting in line behind you. Pay for your stuff and go. At least at Amazon go that won’t happen with fake platitudes of “Hows your day going?”etc just check and bag my stuff and lemme go in peace.
This concept gives me hope. This Saturday it took me 20 minutes to check out at the local QFC here because folks were being chatty Kathy’s with cashiers since they knew them.
Supermarket is not the place to chat and hold up the line. Want to chat? Great do it when I am not waiting in line behind you. Pay for your stuff and go. At least at Amazon go that won’t happen with fake platitudes of “Hows your day going?”etc just check and bag my stuff and lemme go in peace.
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One store that has not had dedicate cashiers for at least a decade or longer, Apple. And most of their locations of tons of employees with decent hourly wages (more so than most cashiers). So i definitely see it as a good thing, to bring in better staff, who will in turn provide better services to customers that aren’t just standing behind a register. I like helpful staff but also like to just go in and get my business done. It’d be nice to see how this works out.
The help section in the app specifically says not to hand an item to another customer, as it's added to the cart of the person who removed it.
Sorry, shorty, top shelf items just ain't for you.
More importantly, it's a convenience store. It emphasizes ready-to-go meals and snacks, much of it intended to be consumed within an hour of purchase.
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As a consumer, I don't need cashiers. What I need are people walking around helping me find things. According to what I read, the Amazon Go shop has those kind of people. Store that provide cashiers rather than consumer helpers are not using their employees to provide me the best possible service.
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I'm short, and have a great deal of trouble reaching items on the top shelf of my local supermarket. Rather than cashiers, Amazon Go has wandering helpers that could do that for me, quickly and easily. At my local market, I either have to spend ten minutes hunting down and begging a busy stock person to help me, for EACH top shelf item; or risk personal injury.
What Apple store do you go to?
Haven’t been to an Apple store in the past 5+ years that was not packed full of people and a crew of tee shirt wearing employees telling you what line to wait in or table to stand or sit at.
Definitely not a enjoyable shopping experience for me anymore.
I have just the opposite experience. But I have the flexibility to avoid peak days and hours. It sounds as though you go during peak times. It's very tough to staff those hours with enough qualified people to avoid waits.
The best part about this is I won’t have to talk to people. I don’t mind real conversation but the filler platitudes will be gone and no bottlenecks with waiting to checkout.
Hopefully every retail store becomes like this because it’s great!
Hopefully every retail store becomes like this because it’s great!
This is interesting concept.
There are lot of great questions posed here, but I'm sure Amazon has thought about all of these & then some.
Will there be some hiccups? Of course......but it also seems like by testing this over a year, they've probably addressed a host of issues shoppers could run into.
Plus, they still have actual employees in the store (just no cashiers / registers / line).
There are lot of great questions posed here, but I'm sure Amazon has thought about all of these & then some.
Will there be some hiccups? Of course......but it also seems like by testing this over a year, they've probably addressed a host of issues shoppers could run into.
Plus, they still have actual employees in the store (just no cashiers / registers / line).
iBeacons. They know where you are via your device and if your basket recognizes the items you put in them via tags that would become super cheap because wide use drives down the price.
It’s not what Apple store(s) I go to, but when are you going and what are you buying?
Never had to wait for a person, with the exception of picking up a product that is not in a shelf or an online order and it was under a few minutes.
The problem is getting the vendors on board. Walmart tried husband 10-15 years ago and the vendors not supporting it is what was the downfall.
Well there’s the thing if I need to pick a time that is convenient for them to give me good service i.e. purchase a product then that’s a problem. Furthermore if quality of service is dependent on the product being purchased then that is also a problem.
Really would like to know what Apple location you frequent as that may account for your shopping experience.
Things seemed to get worse after the recent remodels and the name change from Apple Store to Apple fill-in-the-blank-of-your-location. Maybe Apple is trying to tell us they no longer want people shopping there but to treat it more like a exhibit or museum.
For the record I have been to Apple locations twice in the past month arriving at 10:45 am and 4:30 pm respectively. Each experience was similar: crowded and chaotic.
Why are there so many microchips inside my bag of banana chips?! Honestly Amazon, I was going to PAY for it!
Amazing so first they dominate and begin a path to slowly eliminate all department stores like Wally-World, K-Mart, Target, etc etc because of more people shopping online and now its only to see that soon the domination of our common local department stores will soon be replaced by Amazon people-less brick and mortar stores. Hahaha somethings such as this is just sad.
I have to agree, and I used to really like (most) Apple Stores I visited. Nowadays it is usually a din of confusion. It is laughable to brag about "no cashiers" when the Customer/Employee ratio is already around 50:50. It's just that the employees aren't very efficient, and the customers are often--sorry for this--idiots (I watched a blue-shirt spend 20 minutes explaining that Airports don't do bluetooth, when a simple "no" would have sufficed). Mix in the kids hogging devices for playtime, people using the mac displays as an internet cafe, and I just want to get out.
http://www.businessinsider.com/appl...ows-retail-stores-are-too-disorganized-2018-1
Mike