What Amazon Go Means for the Future of Retail
It’s not quite Minority Report’s eyeball-scanning Gap store, but it’s pretty close. On Monday, Amazon announced Amazon Go, the tech company’s latest disruption of the retail industry — a grocery store where consumers can swipe the retailer’s app, take what they want to buy from shelves, and walk out without any traditional check-outs, registers or lines.
“Four years ago, we started to wonder, what would shopping look like if you could walk into a store, grab what you want, and just go,” said a voiceover in a two-minute introductory video available on Amazon’s site that compares the technology of the program to that of self-driving cars. “No lines, no check-out, no registers. Welcome to Amazon Go.”
Now in beta mode with Amazon employees, the 1,800-square-foot store, selling ready-made meals and grocery staples, should open to the public next year. It is located in Seattle, where the 22-year-old brand is headquartered.
