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BUSINESS Wednesday 26 February 2020
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No checkout needed: Amazon opens cashier-less grocery store

By JOSEPH PISANI shop. And there's no deli
AP Retail Writer counter, butcher or fish-
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon monger. Instead, sliced
wants to kill the supermar- ham, steaks and salmon
ket checkout line. fillets are already pack-
The online retailing giant is aged and found in refrig-
opening its first cashier-less erated shelves. "Just walk
supermarket, where shop- out technology is kind of
pers can grab milk or eggs cool, in theory," said David
and walk out without wait- Bishop, a partner at retail
ing in line or ever opening consultancy Brick Meets
their wallets. It's the latest Click, but shoppers decide
sign that Amazon is serious where to shop based on
about shaking up the $800 other factors besides how
billion grocery industry. quickly they can get in and
At the new store, which out of the store. q
opened Tuesday in Ama-
zon's hometown of Seattle,
shoppers scan a smart-
phone app to enter the
store. Cameras and sen-
sors track what's taken off
shelves. Items are charged
to an Amazon account af- In this Feb. 21, 2020 photo, a sign tells shoppers how to check in when they enter an Amazon Go
ter leaving. Grocery store set to open soon in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.
"I love the convenience Associated Press
of literally grabbing and to a store to pick up their store with will be added to them in through the turn-
going" said Art Kuniyuki, a order. the tab of the person who stile. The stores also elimi-
payroll and benefits man- Amazon also plans to open signed them in. But shop- nates the job of cashiers.
ager from Seattle, who another type of grocery pers shouldn't help out a Janes declined to say ex-
spent $15 on Barilla pasta, store in Los Angeles some- stranger reaching for the actly how many people
Dove chocolate and other time this year, but the com- top shelf: Amazon warns the store employs, only
groceries shortly after the pany said it won't use the that grabbing an item for saying it is "several dozen."
store opened. cashier-less technology at someone else means you'll Workers greet customers
Called Amazon Go Gro- that location and has kept be charged for it. and walk around aisles re-
cery, the new store is an other details under wraps. Hoping to catch up to Am- stocking shelves. One em-
expansion of its 2-year-old The company declined to azon, other retailers and ployee stands by the alco-
chain of 25 Amazon Go say if it plans to open more startups are racing to bring hol section, checking IDs of
convenience stores. It's Amazon Go Grocery stores, similar cashier-less technol- shoppers who want wine or
10,400 square feet — more and said there are no plans ogy to stores. Earlier this beer.
than five times the size of to bring the technology to month, 7-Eleven said it is While cashier-less stores
the convenience stores Whole Foods stores. testing a cashier-less store remove the annoyance
— and stocks much more Much of the fruits and veg- for employees inside its of- of waiting in line to pay, it
beyond the sodas and etables come from the fices in Irving, Texas. also kills some joys of the
sandwiches found at Ama- same suppliers at Whole But cashier-less stores have supermarket. There's no
zon Go. Cameron Janes, Foods, Janes said. And come under scrutiny from one to bag groceries. In-
who helps oversee Ama- it has products from the lawmakers and advocates stead, Amazon gives out
zon's physical stores, said Whole Foods store brand who say they discriminate reusable bags so shop-
the technology had to be 365, such as organic oat- against low-income peo- pers can fill them as they
tweaked to account for meal and bagged baby ple who may not have a
how people squeeze to- carrots. But it also sells Ore- credit card or bank ac-
matoes to test for ripeness os, Cheez-Its and other stuff count. Amazon has since
or rummage through avo- banned from the natural let customers pay with
cados to find just the right grocer. cash at its convenience
one. Nothing at the store Families can shop together stores, and the company
is weighed. One blood or- with just one phone scan- said shoppers can do the
ange goes for 53 cents; a ning everyone in. Anything same at the grocery store
banana is 19 cents. they grab and leave the by alerting a worker to let
Amazon is not new to gro-
ceries. It made a splash in
2017 when it bought Whole
Foods and its 500 stores.
It's also been expanding
its online grocery delivery
service. But it's still far be-
hind rival Walmart, the na-
tion's largest grocer, which
has more than 4,700 stores.
Walmart's online grocery
service has also been pop-
ular with customers, who
buy online and then drive