Can Amazon Spread Its Cashierless 'Just Walk Out' Technology to Other Stores?

Amazon launched "cashierless checkout" stores In 2018, reports CNBC - but by 2020 it was licensing the "Just Walk Out" technology to other stores in airports, hospitals, and stadiums.In April, Amazon announced it was removing cashierless checkout from its U.S. Fresh stores and Whole Foods locations... In place of Just Walk Out, which typically requires ceiling-mounted cameras, shelf sensors and gated entry points, Amazon Fresh stores and Whole Foods supermarkets will feature Dash Carts. The carts track and tally up items as shoppers place them in bags, enabling people to skip the checkout line. Amazon continues to use Just Walk Out in its grab-and-go marts and UK Fresh stores... While it's no longer featuring Just Walk Out as prominently in its own stores, Amazon says it has inked deals with a growing list of customers. More than 200 third-party stores have paid Amazon to install the cashierless system. The company expects to double the number of third-party Just Walk Out stores this year, Jon Jenkins, who previously served as vice president of Amazon's Just Walk Out technology, said in a recent interview... Amazon's "primary focus" is selling the technology to third-party businesses and deploying it in small to medium-sized store formats, where the system "tends to generate a little better [return on investment]," Jenkins said... At one Just Walk Out store, inside Seattle's Lumen Field, home to the NFL's Seahawks, the company said it boosted sales by 112% last season, with 85% more transactions during the course of a game. Two interesting points from the article:"Earlier this year, Amazon also began selling its connected grocery carts to third parties.""With Just Walk Out, Amazon faces the challenge of convincing retailers that they cantrust one of their biggest competitors with handling valuable shopper data..."

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