Yahoo – AFP,
December 6, 2016
San Francisco (AFP) - Amazon has unveiled a new kind of retail store, with no cashiers.
 |
| Amazon has been rumored to be looking at creating brick-and-mortar outlets but so far has only announced a handful of bookselling outlets (AFP Photo/JOHN MACDOUGALL) |
San Francisco (AFP) - Amazon has unveiled a new kind of retail store, with no cashiers.
Customers
at the concept store in Amazon's hometown of Seattle, Washington, can fill
their shopping carts and walk out -- with the costs automatically tallied up
and billed to their accounts with the US online giant.
Amazon Go,
which is being tested with Amazon employees and will open to the public next
year, is a "checkout-free shopping experience made possible by the same
types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion
and deep learning," its webpage said.
"Our
Just Walk Out technology automatically detects when products are taken from or
returned to the shelves and keeps track of them in a virtual cart. When you're
done shopping, you can just leave the store. Shortly after, we'll charge your
Amazon account and send you a receipt."
The
1,800-square-foot (170-square-meter) store is selling a variety of food
products, including bread, cheeses and ready-to-eat meals, as well as Amazon
Meal Kits, which contain ingredients for home-cooked dishes.
It was not
immediately clear whether Amazon will expand this model with more physical
stores or offer the technology to other retailers.
 |
Wal-Mart is
offering free shipping with no minimum on all online orders
to compete with
Amazon's "Prime Day." Fred Katayama reports.
|
The online
giant has been rumored to be looking at creating brick-and-mortar stores but so
far has only announced a handful of outlets selling books.
The Wall
Street Journal cited people close to the matter as saying that Amazon Go was
one of several store formats the retail giant is considering.
Two
prototype drive-through locations in Seattle without in-store shopping options
are set to open in the coming weeks, the Journal reported.
Depending
on the success of the test locations, Amazon could reportedly open more than
2,000 brick-and-mortar grocery stores under its brand.
If it does
push forward with selling fresh food in stores, Amazon could put a lot of
pressure on traditional grocers and superstores like Wal-Mart.
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