Amazon ditches cashierless checkout system at its grocery stores

Amazon
is
removing
its
cashierless
checkout
systems
at
Fresh
supermarkets
in
the
U.S.,
the
company
confirmed,
marking
the
latest
recalibration
of
its
grocery
strategy.

The
company
won’t
include
the
system,
called
Just
Walk
Out,
in
existing
Fresh
stores
or
in
new
locations
slated
to

open
later
this
year.
It
will
instead
rely
more
heavily
on

Dash
Carts,
which
track
and
tally
up
items
as
shoppers
place
them
in
their
carts,
enabling
people
to
skip
the
checkout
line.

“We’ve
invested
a
lot
of
time
redesigning
a
number
of
our
Amazon
Fresh
stores
over
the
last
year,
offering
a
better
overall
shopping
experience
with
more
value,
convenience,
and
selection
—
and
so
far
we’ve
seen
positive
results,
with
higher
customer
shopping
satisfaction
scores
and
increased
purchasing,”
Amazon
spokesperson
Carly
Golden
said
in
a
statement.

“We’ve
also
heard
from
customers
that
while
they
enjoyed
the
benefit
of
skipping
the
checkout
line
with
Just
Walk
Out,
they
also
wanted
the
ability
to
easily
find
nearby
products
and
deals,
view
their
receipt
as
they
shop,
and
know
how
much
money
they
saved
while
shopping
throughout
the
store,”
Golden
added.

The
Information
earlier
reported
Amazon’s
decision
to
scrap
Just
Walk
Out
at
some
Fresh
stores.

Amazon’s
Go
convenience
stores
will
continue
to
use
Just
Walk
Out
technology,
along
with
smaller
Fresh
locations
in
the
U.K.
The
company
will
also
continue
to
license
the
cashierless
system
to
third
parties.

Amazon

in
2018
debuted
the
cashierless
technology
at
a
convenience
store
on
its
Seattle
campus.
The
system
relies
on
an
array
of
cameras
and
sensors
throughout
the
store
that
monitor
which
items
shoppers
take
with
them
and
charge
them
automatically
when
they
leave.

Like
many
artificial
intelligence
systems,
Amazon’s
system
relies
on
human
moderators
and
data
labelers,
who
review
Just
Walk
Out
transactions
and
label
footage
to
help
train
the
AI
models
that
make
it
work.

The
Information
reported
last
year
that
the
team
was
made
up
of
more
than
1,000
employees,
primarily
based
in
India.
An
Amazon
spokesperson
confirmed
at
the
time
that
it
uses
human
moderators,
but
declined
to
say
how
many
people
it
employs
in
these
roles.

JWO
was
a
pet
project
of
Amazon
founder
Jeff
Bezos,
who
saw
it
as
a
way
for
the
company
to
differentiate
itself
in
the
grocery
market
and “get
rid
of
the
worst
thing
about
physical
retail.”

“No
one
likes
to
wait
in
line,”
then-CEO
Bezos
wrote
in
his

2018
letter
to
shareholders. “Instead,
we
imagined
a
store
where
you
could
walk
in,
pick
up
what
you
wanted,
and
leave.”

Since
then,
Amazon’s
strategy
around
Just
Walk
Out
has
shifted.
The
company

in
2020
began
selling
the
systems
to
food
and
retail
shops
in
airports
and
sports
stadiums,
and
more
recently
to
hospitals.
The
unit
was
also
moved
out
of
Amazon’s
retail
group
and
folded
into
its
cloud-computing
division.