Amazon Just Walk Out Tech Now Available to Retailers
Amazon is making its Just Walk Out cashierless technology available to other retailers.
The tech, which combines computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning, detects what consumers remove or return from shelves, tallying them in a virtual cart. Purchases can be made with credit cards — mobile apps aren’t required — and consumers who need a receipt can retrieve one via email from a store kiosk.
Using the same credit card on future trips will automatically trigger an emailed receipt.
“Since launching Amazon Go years ago, many retailers have expressed an interest in offering similar checkout-free shopping experiences to their customers,” Amazon states on its website. “We're excited to now offer the ability for retailers to leverage Just Walk Out technology from Amazon in their stores. By extending our technology to other retailers, more customers will delight in the Just Walk Out experience as they can take what they want and leave without stopping to check out.”
Installation of Just Walk Out can take as little as a few weeks once Amazon is provided store access. It will work with retailers on new store builds, or it will install the technology to existing operations “while minimizing impact on current operations.”
Amazon will also provide 24/7 phone and email support. Data collection will be limited to what’s needed to provide consumers with their receipt.
Although the company is making cashierless technology available, it doesn’t mean Amazon Go stores are becoming a franchise opportunity; Amazon notes specifically that retailers can’t open Amazon Go stores.
The move to widen the availability of its technology represents another way for the company to drive value proposition in the way that its website, Prime, Prime Video and Go have done in the past, Arvin Jawa, vice president of retail strategy at retail and banking tech and services provider Diebold Nixdorf, told RIS.
“However, naturally perfecting this value proposition takes lots of data, repetition, modeling and testing to get it right,” he noted. “Even if Amazon claims not to keep or utilize the data of the transactions in this new technology, the opportunity they gain to continually update their technology for new, ‘real world’ retailer use cases is a huge benefit.”
The more retailers Amazon can partner with, the further their technology can be supported within broader use cases, including BOPIS, age-verified products or various payment types.
Ultimately, Just Walk Out makes the most sense for smaller-footprint retailers with limited assortments that are easily managed by computer vision, said Jawa.
“Ideally retailers with a well-defined app and/or loyalty program that would like to find a way to better personalize an experience for their known consumers could benefit,” he said, as could retailers seeking understanding of the path to purchase.
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