Amazon closes another Just Walk Out technology powered Amazon Go store amidst rise of remote working
Amazon has shuttered a five year old Amazon Go convenience store in downtown Seattle, three months after it announced that eight of its automated checkout locations (two each in Seattle and New York City and four in San Francisco) were closing across the US.
“We’ve closed our 5th and Marion Seattle Amazon Go location, and are working closely with employees to find new opportunities within Amazon, including at other nearby stores,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
“We continue operating more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the US, and look forward to opening more in the future.”
The spokesperson didn’t give reasons for the closure, but it should be noted that urban stores reliant on office workers have struggled amidst the rise of remote working in a post-Covid world.
The focus of late has been on larger suburban locations that feature a made to order kitchen.
Amazon Fresh
Earlier this year, Amazon UK opened Amazon Fresh checkout-free stores in Croydon and Monument.
In addition to a convenience grocery offering, customers can also pick up items purchased on Amazon.co.uk at an Amazon Hub, and return items without needing to package the product or print a shipping label.
These stores also, for the first time, feature manned checkouts, the others being powered entirely by Just Walk Out technology.
An Amazon spokesperson told RTIH: “At Monument and East Croydon, customers have the option to either shop with Just Walk Out technology where they enter through a gateless opening and identify themselves by scanning either their in-store QR code or payment card at the exit gate, or choose the more traditional method of paying at a checkout.”
Why has Amazon chosen this option and will this be the strategy going forward, i.e. a mix of checkout-free and manned tills?
The spokesperson responded: “Amazon is always innovating on behalf of the customer and we will continue to find ways in which we can better serve our customers. We’re excited to welcome customers into these stores and look forward to their feedback.”
Make of that what you will. Our hot take: Amazon bet big on Just Walk Out technology and discovered that, shock, horror, it wasn’t for everyone.
So, expect a hybrid approach from now on as the e-commerce giant attempts to make inroads in to the hugely competitive UK grocery stores space.
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