Amazon has remained the biggest online retailer for a while now, and has been diversifying its business too. We have seen many groundbreaking innovations from Amazon recently. However, the retail giant wants to take things to another level with its new grocery stores.
Amazon has always been known as an online business. However, lately, the company has seen value in establishing physical stores. They can be fulfillment centers and serve the big share of customers who still have a taste for brick and mortar shopping. But the launch of Amazon’s physical grocery store is different. It’s not like a normal storefront where you put up the shelves, hire a few guys and get started. It’s a highly sophisticated grocery store that gives us a glimpse of just how high tech shopping is about to get in the near future.
Amazon has been a disruptive force in many industries. Its superior technology and e-commerce experience gives it an edge. Its new checkout-free grocery store opened in Seattle on Monday. Amazon says that it began testing the concept last year. However, offering customers a shopping experience without a cashier has always been a long term vision for the tech giant.
The new grocery store will be called Amazon Go. It’s a simple concept really. Shoppers will be able to step into the store, automatically add any items they want to buy in a digital app and walk out without lining up to pay. The app is called Amazon Go too.
The first store in Seattle measures about 1,800 square feet and is located in an Amazon office building. The company says that it has developed an AI that is able to identify and automatically add what customers are buying in the Amazon Go app instantly. Once you leave the store, Amazon will automatically charge your account.
The grocery store will sell staples like bread, milk, etc. It’s still small compared to other supermarkets. Nonetheless, since it’s a pilot, perhaps there was no need to acquire a bigger space. According to a strategic plan that we saw from Amazon, the aim is to build at least 2000 of these stores across the country in the next 10 years.
Integrating AI into shopping is a big concept and Amazon appears to be doing it right. The customer experience is the end goal here. Amazon wants to create a convenient, fast, and efficient way to shop by integrating modern machine learning technology to everything.
All you need to have in order to shop at the new Seattle store is the Amazon Go app. You will scan a QR code when you enter the store. The system will then know what you have put in your shopping basket and charge you after. If you were to return something to the shelves, the system will also know. It’s a highly advanced way of shopping and it takes away the long wait at the cashier that customers have to endure at the traditional supermarkets.
