Airport retailer OTG to tap Amazon Just Walk Out tech
Earlier this week, Amazon announced a new business line selling the Just Walk Out technology which powers its Amazon Go stores.
And now OTG, which operates over 350 restaurants and retail locations in North American airports, has said it will be one of the first retailers to adopt the tech.
The first store, a CIBO Express Gourmet Market, will open next week (16th March) in Newark Liberty’s Terminal C. This will be followed by additional ones in both Newark Liberty and LaGuardia airports.
“We’re incredibly proud to be integrating Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology into the OTG airport experience,” says OTG CEO Rick Blatstein.
“We have always embraced technology as a means of optimising the airport experience so that we can give our guests their time back. By using the world’s most advanced shopping technology in our CIBO Express Gourmet Markets, we’re doing just that by putting our guests in full control of their time.”
Selling Just Walk Out tech to other retailers: a shrewd or bad move?
“We all saw this coming; develop it, test and learn, launch, launch again in different store formats and then sell it to the global retailers,” retail tech veteran Steve Lister said in a LinkedIn post.
“Why would Amazon open their own stores? This is an incredible lesson in how you can throw a tonne of money at something and then sell it to all the retailers who wanted it. Great business model and will secure re-occurring revenues for decades to come. Shrewd move but what else did we expect from Amazon?”
Not everyone is a fan of the initiative, however. In a RTIH article published last month, discussing the launch of Amazon Go Grocery, Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant who has also worked at Amazon, Deloitte and Capgemini, commented: “The technology is expensive; other retailers will not licence it because they're not about to do anything to make Amazon even more successful.”
“And last but not least, Grabango and several other companies offer check-out free shopping solutions at a fraction of the cost.”
