Retail Technology Show review - Amazon Just Walk Out tech takes centre stage
Retailers are starting to redesign their entire store format now they do not need to include checkout tills due to Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, an executive at the e-commerce giant has said.
Max Gill, Amazon Physical Retail Technologies, Just Walk Out, EMEA Lead, said the company’s tech is allowing retailers to “play with space and formats” within their shops.
“We are trying to reinvent the physical store”, Gill commented, adding that Amazon's own research has shown that queues are often the biggest source of friction and annoyance for customers at shops.
“We have been trying to bring the mentality and ease of online checkouts at Amazon into the physical store”.
Amazon has launched several of its own checkout free stores in the UK, called Amazon Fresh, but also offers its technology to other retailers, such as Sainsbury’s and WHSmith.
Instead of using checkout tills, customers tap their credit card or mobile phone app as they enter the shop, and are then tracked via cameras and sensors built in to the store, monitoring what they pick up or put back. They can then walk out without the need for paying at a till.
Gill said this was allowing retailers to look at opening smaller stores or placing them in locations that may not otherwise be possible such as the thoroughfare of an airport.
“When you take checkouts out of stores, customers are getting more space, so there is space for more products or a different form factor,” he stated.
“Lots of companies are looking at launching whole new store formats with us, because they don’t need to have a checkout within the store. For the retailer it allows them to play with space and with formats.”
Gill said the company's Just Walk Out sensors also allow retailers to reduce waste.
For example, if a customer takes a product out of a chilled cabinet and then puts it on another shelf elsewhere in the store, Amazon’s tech can notify store workers about the item and also let them know how long it has been out of the fridge.
Similarly, the “black box” of information the sensors and cameras provide to retailers means businesses can gain insights such as where people are congregating in a store or what they are picking up or putting back frequently.
Businesses will also be able to use their staff to upsell other products to customers as they are not having to man the tills.
“They can spend more time with customers and can elevate sales figures by focusing on the customer experience”, Gill said.
Amazon is trying to encourage different types of retailers to embrace its technology, such as cafes, sports arenas, resorts and airports.
It has been used by the US airport retailer Hudson, as well as Starbucks, Resorts World in Las Vegas, and stadiums such as UBS Arena in New York and the Houstons Astros’ Minute Maid Park.
Other retailers have gone head to head with Amazon by launching their own version of checkout-free technology, however.
In the UK, Tesco opened its own version of a “just walk out store” in High Holborn, London, in August last year, with technology powered by the firm Trigo, while Aldi opened a similar type of store in Greenwich, south east London, shoppers in January.
