After the first Amazon Go store showed huge success, the ecommerce giant is planning to open yet another Go store in Seattle, just a few blocks away from the first one. What makes the Amazon Go store so unique is their cashierless, no line, no wait way of life, and customers cannot seem to stop buzzing about it. Their second checkout-free store will be located in heart of the city’s business district on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Marion Street, according to the Seattle Times.
Even though Amazon has not released details on exactly what the store will sell, it will most likely be like their first Go location and sell a lot of ready-to-eat foods: beverages, chips, cookies, snacks, and meal kit boxes courtesy of Amazon. The original Go store also sells beer and wine, as long as customers show their photo ID to an employee before leaving the store, according to their website.
How it Works
This convenience store’s cashierless experience is made possible with technology. Here is how it works: All a customer needs is the Amazon Go app and a free account on their smartphone to get into the store. Using computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning, their Just Walk Out technology automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to the shelves and keeps track of them in a virtual cart. When the customer is done shopping, they can just leave the store. Shortly after, Amazon will charge their account and send them a virtual receipt.
Even though the Go stores may seem like bad news to other retailers in the area, fret not. According to top executives at Amazon Go, customers tend to linger in the area and come back often. Without the hassle of waiting in busy lines and running late to work, consumers are more likely to walk around and even stop by a local coffee shop with their extra time.
This is actually good news for surrounding small shops because it is getting people out of their homes and more likely to see and visit other stores. Customers are more prone to see the deals you post outside on chalkboards or posters and think twice before continuing to walk on by. Amazon Go is bringing Americans from behind their computer screens and into the world.
New Tech
A Fortune article also speaks highly of the concepts of both Amazon Go stores, saying “the technology is already proving to be something it could use more widely: the Amazon Go app gives customer feedback in real time and helps dictate what the store should stock. That is becoming an imperative across retail because stores, whether selling sandwiches or cashmere sweaters, don’t want to miss out on sales, or conversely, find themselves with unsold merchandise they have to chuck or sell at clearance prices.”
This technology may be quite costly to implement into your store’s system, but it may be time to begin the contemplation process. Retailers can save money on labor, and theft should not be too much of a worry, since cameras are tracking what shoppers take and put back on the shelf. It is also a smart idea to get super personal with your customers, which is already what indie retailers do best, by keeping track of what they like, dislike, and what needs adjustment.
A good example of this feedback loop is how vegans were complaining through the Amazon Go app about how cheese was mixed into the salads sold at the store, so now they offer cheese on the side, according to Dilip Kumar, Vice President of Technology at Amazon Go and Amazon Books. With this technology, you can curate your products based on your customers, which will have them coming back and feeling like they are heard and valued.
Expansion
Amazon Go is planning to open six more stores by the end of 2018, according to Retail Dive. Two of the highlighted cities are Chicago and San Francisco, but no other information has been released. Even still, indie retailers in the area should be excited for the extra foot traffic in the areas to bring customers out from behind their beloved computer screens.