Amazon bins Just Walk Out technology at Fresh grocery stores as US giant ramps up focus on smart carts
Amazon is removing Just Walk Out frictionless shopping technology from its Amazon Fresh stores.
This will be replaced by smart carts that allow customers to skip the checkout line but also see their spending in real-time.
Just Walk Out will continue to be offered in Amazon Go stores and some smaller Amazon Fresh stores in the UK. Amazon will also continue to offer the technology to third-party retailers.
“We’ve invested a lot of time redesigning a number of our Amazon Fresh stores over the last year, offering a better overall shopping experience with more value, convenience, and selection, and so far we’ve seen positive results, with higher customer shopping satisfaction scores and increased purchasing," says spokesperson Jessica Martin.
“We’ve also heard from customers that while they enjoyed the benefit of skipping the checkout line with Just Walk Out, they also wanted the ability to easily find nearby products and deals, view their receipt as they shop, and know how much money they saved while shopping throughout the store.”
Stadiums and micro markets
At RTIH, we’re keen followers of the many startups operating in the autonomous checkout space (Zippin, AiFi, Trigo, Grabango etc).
And so is Frank Beard, Head of Marketing at Rovertown, who in a recent post on X (formerly known as Twitter) gave the thumbs up to those companies betting on stadiums and micro markets.
Although he added: “Convenience? Not buying the tech. Grocery? Small pilots, no scale, challenging format.”
Beard commented: “The use case is obvious for stadiums. Needs no explanation. Vendors like Zippin and AiFi are crushing it in that space, with Allegiant Stadium alone having 10 Zippin powered stores. Amazon is getting traction there too, but nothing like Zippin.”
Micro markets, meanwhile, are interesting. AiFi has dozens of stores with Zabka in Poland. JUXTA is making interesting moves. And universities represent a solid use case, with Amazon and AiFi worth watching.
Regarding JUXTA, Urban Value Corner Store is, in Beard’s view, perhaps the best example of a new, non-fuel convenience format in the United States. “That's why this partnership is worth watching. Can UVCS create the US version of Zabka Nano?”
As for the typical US convenience format, “we piloted with Circle K (Beard was previously at Standard AI) when I was in the autonomous checkout space, but the reality is a register plus two to three self-checkouts is good enough.”
If an autonomous checkout vendor bets on convenience and grocery, they're facing a difficult path. “Only small pilots and no scale so far,” Beard commented. “Grabango is a good example. Bit off several very impressive pilots, but none appear to have gone anywhere.”
Grocery has a need for this tech, Beard reckons. But with issues like HITL and cost, scale seems far off. Pilots have focused on small format stores, with AiFi, Trigo, and Grabango venturing in to these choppy waters.
Of those companies Trigo is interesting, having raised $200 million+, and featuring ex-Talpiot talent, with pilots with several major grocers, doing real-time receipts, etc. “If any current players crack grocery, it could be this company,” said Beard.
Beard concluded: “Not much being said about autonomous checkout companies who've already dropped off. Remember Accel Robotics? Raised $30 million Series A led by Softbank. Silence for the past few years. Not sure why the website's even still active.”
“Anyway, fascinating space in retail tech. Very curious to see what happens over the next few years.”
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