Amazon Go, a 1,800-square-foot convenience store located in the company’s hometown of Seattle, is described by the firm as a “new kind of store” without checkouts. The downside, critics warn, is that customers will be sacrificing their privacy for a speedy sandwich shopping experience. Amazon Go lets you walk in, pick up a sandwich or other merchandise, and walk straight out. A customer will be charged once he or she leaves the shop courtesy of the Amazon Go app installed on their smartphone. The company’s Just Walk Out technology could revolutionize retail by automatically detecting when products are taken from or returned to shelves and keeping track of them in a virtual cart. When shopping is complete, the customer just walks out, and Amazon charges their Amazon account. Amazon will be able to track customers in real life just as it does online and in addition to operating its own stores could license the technology to other retailers. The nation’s 3.5 million retail cashiers might be concerned; the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that cashiers are the country’s second-largest occupation. READ MORE
Would you sacrifice privacy for speedy shopping?
