#Amazon #JustWalkOut #GroceryStores #Technology #FutureOfRetail
🛒 Amazon recently announced that it will be ditching its ‘Just Walk Out’ technology at its grocery stores. This decision has stirred up a lot of discussion in the retail industry, with many wondering about the implications and reasons behind this move. Let’s dive into some insights and recommendations to understand more about this development.
### What is ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts?
– ‘Just Walk Out’ technology was introduced by Amazon at its grocery stores to allow customers to shop without having to wait in line to check out.
– This technology utilized a combination of sensors, cameras, and machine learning algorithms to automatically detect when products were taken off the shelves and charge customers accordingly.
### Reasons for Ditching ‘Just Walk Out’ Technology
1. **Operational Challenges**
– Maintaining and troubleshooting the complex technology behind ‘Just Walk Out’ checkouts posed significant operational challenges for Amazon.
2. **Customer Experience**
– Some customers found the lack of human interaction at checkout to be less engaging and impersonal.
3. **Costs**
– Implementing and maintaining the ‘Just Walk Out’ technology may have been costly for Amazon, leading to a reassessment of its viability.
### Recommendations for Amazon
1. **Focus on Improving Existing Checkout Systems**
– Amazon could invest in enhancing its current checkout systems to make them more streamlined and efficient for customers.
2. **Utilize Data Analytics**
– Leveraging customer data and analytics can help Amazon better understand shopping patterns and optimize its checkout processes.
3. **Innovate Responsibly**
– While experimenting with new technologies is important, Amazon should carefully consider the costs, operational implications, and customer preferences before implementing major changes.
### Future of Retail
– The decision to ditch ‘Just Walk Out’ checkouts at its grocery stores raises questions about the future of retail and the role of technology in shaping the shopping experience.
– It highlights the importance of striking a balance between innovation and practicality to meet the evolving needs and expectations of customers.
In conclusion, Amazon’s move to discontinue ‘Just Walk Out’ checkouts at its grocery stores is a reflection of the dynamic nature of the retail industry. By learning from this experience and adapting its approach, Amazon can continue to lead the way in retail innovation while prioritizing customer satisfaction.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/amazon-reportedly-ditches-just-walk-out-grocery-stores-1851381116
I really miss the scan as you go grocery stores. It was an amazing few years until all of them stopped because we can’t have nice things
Fascinating…
Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. The cashiers were simply moved off-site, and they watched you as you shopped.
We all saw this coming. There was little point to it other than “look at this thing we did.”
In the 90s, I was working on a retail checkout idea where all products would be tagged with RFID labels, so you could just move your cart through a scanner and have it rung up automatically. Same concept would apply to just walking out of the store through scanners and having that debit your account automatically.
And it’s the same underlying tech as used for car RFID tags for tolls.
I recently went to an Amazon Fresh walk out store and was only charged for 10 of the ~25 items I got. I guess those folks in India were on break. The 10,000 cameras hanging from the ceiling were also quite creepy. So much money and effort to avoid paying a local human $15/hr. 🙃
What I find fascinating is that in their zeal to NOT pay people a fucking living wage by offloading the labor to people in other countries, or you the customer, all Amazon and other chains are figuring out is you need to fucking PAY people…
One of the shittiest modern issues; companies foregoing actual employees.
There’s very little tech that does as well in Customer Service roles. But since the companies want to line the pockets of the shareholders, they go forward with inappropriate tech when it’s substandard, at the cost of the consumers. The next step, I’m sure, will be monetizing the “premium” assistance people used to get for free.
[Nice Try](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS9U3Gc832Y)
I’ve worked retail for too long at this point.
How they ever thought this was a feasible idea was the thing to me. Clearly whoever makes these choices has never physically shopped in the last decade.
Yet again we see another rabid, poorly thought-out automation ‘mad dash’ that failed to deliver.
Coming soon to an ham-fisted AI endeavor near you.
Whoa that was fast.
There was a test store near our house we went to a couple times.
The main complaint I had is you weren’t allowed to bring the carts outside the store, as they were each worth an absurd amount of money with all that tech.
So you put everything in the cart, then you had had to transfer carts to a normal one to take your items out into the parking lot.
EDIT: nm, looks like they are moving more towards the type I am talking about, and away from the non-cart ones. Unless they start allowing you to go to your car with the cart, this is not going to work well, it’s such a hassle transferring everything into a new cart and then again into your car.
The last time I was at an Amazon Fresh, I needed to buy five 12 packs of coke. It only charged me for 1 of them. I’m not complaining
We’ve had these in Philly for years without any Amazon… /s
What ever happened to RFID technology that would broadcast the information from the barcode after an initial ping? It was advertised as being able to walk through a gate and get the receipt at the exit. That was like ten to fifteen years ago.
Whatta surprise!
Even if people wanted to steal? No ones gonna stop them. Look at home depot, no one stops them
It’s too much work to keep it maintained
> Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. The cashiers were simply moved off-site, and they watched you as you shopped.
What a joke
Now, if they’ll just drop wanting my handprint when I come into the store…
Is there any other reputable source breaking the “1,000 people in India” story? The Information seems to be the only one and it is under a hefty paywall.
Is it common practice to have Indians watching surveillance cameras while we shop? I live in Sweden and I swear to god that if I go into certain self-checkout lanes wearing certain clothes I always get picked to have my items checked. I’ve never accidentally or on purpose stolen something from those checkouts. I clear them every time. Yet, I could in the same day wearing the same clothes be checked. They claim it’s random. But this really makes wonder if it’s bullshit.
I’ve been twice recently where something didn’t get paid for. I even went through the trouble of returning and saying it didn’t charge me, and employees were clueless.
So it’s just a normal shop now?
I experienced one of these shops at a convention in NYC. It was interesting because it felt like “the future” but it was also off-putting.
One of the core tenets of user experience is feedback. Basically, providing validation that an action was performed and acknowledged. Doesn’t matter if you’re talking about an app or a physical interaction. In a retail setting the stakes are even higher before you’re talking about money changing hands. For this reason I wouldn’t have expected this idea to get past a brainstorm session. Unfortunately, tech companies have this weird compulsion to reinvent the wheel and dismissing the valid reasons why we do things the way we do.
I am maybe the biggest fan of this shopping format, and I will be sad to see it go. I always figured there was some level of human review going on… if it’s really 70%, that surprises me, but I definitely knew it wasn’t the 5% they were shooting for.
There’s one thing that doesn’t seem to be mentioned here… The service is just not that popular. The Fresh I go to regularly has a single cashier stand (that basically doubles as the customer service desk) and people will line up 5-deep to check out there instead of using Just Walk Out. It blows my mind.
I have also visited DC’s JWO-equipped Whole Foods, and they have a self-checkout option which is always busy. Last year, they reconfigured the store to eliminate the entry gates that were installed for Just Walk Out. You could still use it, but now you would authenticate on the way out only, rather than on both the way in and out. I suspect Amazon did this for two reasons: 1) Shift the decision point on JWO to the end of the trip. You can walk in, get your items, and then decide which way to check out. I think that probably got some first-timers to try it, compared to the old way where you needed to make a decision at the start. 2) I think the entry gates scared away potential customers. You see a barrier to entry, if you’re not the type of person who wants to figure out technology (or figure out how to enter the store for “traditional checkout”), you’ll probably just leave and go somewhere else.
They built one of these in my area (Eagan, MN) and never opened it. Every day for the past several years I’ve driven past this empty building in a prime location, and it annoys me every time.
“Though it seemed completely automated, Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. The cashiers were simply moved off-site, and they watched you as you shopped.”
Another solution in search of a problem… they didn’t solve a problem, they created new ones in the name of “ease”.
I love using Sam’s scan and go. What surprises me is people STILL que in the lines to check out. They have had this for at least 4 years and most people I truly believe just refuse.
The comment history is comedy gold
Thousands of cameras in the store > just pay more cashiers to reduce waiting time
Wow. I’d always assumed it worked with RFID tags… It turns out it uses a much worse, much more expensive and much more complex system. No wonder they gave up.
This tracks with what I’ve witnessed the last few years working for Microsoft. My coworkers and I constantly joke (otherwise we’d cry because it sucks so much) that most ‘automation’ being touted is literally just thousands of people in India pushing buttons. The worst part is, more often than not, they push the wrong fucking button and we have to clean up their messes.