Amazon's much-heralded convenience store of the future, Amazon Go, may seem like a crazy experiment. But the company plans to open as many as six more of these storefronts this year, multiple people familiar with the company's plans have told Recode.
Some of the new high-tech stores are likely to open in Amazon's hometown of Seattle, where the first location is based, as well as Los Angeles, these people said. It's not clear if Amazon will open up Go stores in any other cities this year.
In Los Angeles, Amazon has held serious talks with billionaire developer Rick Caruso about bringing a Go store to The Grove, his 600,000-square-foot outdoor shopping Mecca, two of these people said.
And in Seattle, Amazon had identified at least three locations for additional Go stores as of last year, according to one source.
[...] News of the planned expansion of the Amazon Go concept is sure to set off fresh concerns about the great societal challenges that come with the type of automation that Amazon is inventing. Since the Amazon Go model does not involve customers checking out, there are no cashiers working in the stores.
Source: ReCode
Also Amazon reportedly plans to open more of its futuristic, cashierless stores this year
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Amazon Will Consider Opening Up to 3,000 Cashierless Stores by 2021
Amazon.com Inc. is considering a plan to open as many as 3,000 new AmazonGo cashierless stores in the next few years, according to people familiar with matter, an aggressive and costly expansion that would threaten convenience chains like 7-Eleven Inc., quick-service sandwich shops like Subway and Panera Bread, and mom-and-pop pizzerias and taco trucks.
Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos sees eliminating meal-time logjams in busy cities as the best way for Amazon to reinvent the brick-and-mortar shopping experience, where most spending still occurs. But he's still experimenting with the best format: a convenience store that sells fresh prepared foods as well as a limited grocery selection similar to 7-Eleven franchises, or a place to simply pick up a quick bite to eat for people in a rush, similar to the U.K.-based chain Pret a Manger, one of the people said.
An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment. The company unveiled its first cashierless store near its headquarters in Seattle in 2016 and has since announced two additional sites in Seattle and one in Chicago. Two of the new stores offer only a limited selection of salads, sandwiches and snacks, showing that Amazon is experimenting with the concept simply as a meal-on-the-run option. Two other stores, including the original AmazonGo, also have a small selection of groceries, making it more akin to a convenience store.
Can Bezos make the leap from $160 billion to $1 trillion?
See also: Amazon Thinks Big, and That Doesn't Come Cheap
Previously: Amazon Go: It's Like Shoplifting
"Amazon Go" Store Opens in Seattle
Amazon Plans to Open as Many as Six More Cashierless Amazon Go Stores This Year
Robot Janitors Are Coming to Mop Floors at a Walmart Near You
The world's largest retailer is rolling out 360 autonomous floor-scrubbing robots in some of its stores in the U.S. by the end of the[sic] January, it said in a joint statement with Brain Corp., which makes the machines. The autonomous janitors can clean floors on their own even when customers are around, according to the San Diego-based startup.
Walmart has already been experimenting with automating the scanning of shelves for out-of-stock items and hauling products from storage for online orders. Advances in computer vision are also making it possible to use retail floor data to better understand consumer behavior, improve inventory tracking and even do away with checkout counters, as Amazon.com Inc. is trying to do with its cashierless stores. Brain's robots are equipped with an array of sensors that let them to[sic] gather and upload data.
"We can take anything that has wheels and turn it into a fully autonomous robot, provided that it can go slow and stopping is never a safety concern," said Brain Chief Executive Office Eugene Izhikevich. "And it's more than just navigation. It is to robots what Android operating system is to smartphones."
Amazon wants to sell booze at one of its Chicago retail stores
Amazon.com Inc. wants to sell alcohol at its planned new Amazon Go retail store in the Illinois Center. Seattle-based Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) applied for a liquor license from the city of Chicago this month, with "Amazon Retail LLC" applying for package goods liquor license at 111 E. Wacker Drive, floor 1, according to the city.
Amazon announced its fourth Chicago-area Amazon Go retail store earlier this month, planned for Illinois Center, with an opening set for early 2019. None of the current Chicago Amazon Go stores currently sell alcohol.
Previously: Walmart to Deploy Shelf-Scanning Robots at 50 Stores
Amazon Plans to Open as Many as Six More Cashierless Amazon Go Stores This Year
Amazon Considering Opening Up to 3,000 New Cashierless "Amazon Go" Stores
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @09:57PM (27 children)
If I can't pay with cash at a convenience store, then I'm not shopping there. Because you know what makes convenience stores convenient? Cash.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday February 25 2018, @10:36PM (2 children)
I think it's a good idea, especially because they will tend to be in mostly White neighborhoods. The idea will eventually be killed after too many people cry racism since Amazon wants it difficult for people to loot stores.
(Score: 1) by Woosh on Monday February 26 2018, @04:50PM (1 child)
You should probably stop using the term "white" neighborhoods to denote middle class families. Describing a neighborhood by race doesn't help anyone but drive a wedge.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @08:26PM
The nickname... So ironic.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday February 25 2018, @10:38PM (23 children)
The plan is to link it to a smartphone, I think. And it is more convenient than cash, because you don't need to take out your wallet or count your nickels.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @11:04PM (8 children)
Except it's not more convenient than cash, you see.
At any store which has self-checkout, I can walk in, grab what I want, scan my purchases, shove cash into the machine, and walk out. I know for a fact what amount I owed, I know for a fact what amount I paid, and I know for a fact that the transaction was concluded before I walked out. The self-checkout machine cannot overcharge me because it only has the amount of money which I give to it.
At a cashless inconvenience store, the transaction won't be concluded until after I walk out, after the store bills me, and I won't be sure what amount I was charged until after I check my bank account to see exactly how much the inconvenience store actually took from me.
The only way to make a cashless convenience store which allows shoppers to walk out without paying first is to make every item in the store free. Somehow I doubt Amazon is in the business of conveniently free stuff.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday February 25 2018, @11:06PM (1 child)
See my comment below regarding Self-checkout and booze sales in California. If you don't mind me asking, you're not from these parts, are ya?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @03:03AM
I can't speak for the other AC, but no, I'm not from "around these parts" (California). And thank goodness for that.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Monday February 26 2018, @02:24AM (2 children)
i dunno about you, but in this neck of the woods, even self-checkout counter can have a queue - and more often than not I run into problems with the weight scale and have to hand wave a store rep over.
With the amazon app you can see exactly what you're charged if you want to in the app and get a receipt after you pass the scanners. You are paying before you walk out, just not directly into your bank account but your amazon account much like a credit card account.
The credit card model have been working for decades, this is no different, just no need to do explicit scanning as their tech does continuous scanning while you're in store and no actual person and machine to feed in a physical token like a credit card as it is done remotely via the app in your device in your pocket.
Yes, there's a small chance you may be billed incorrectly, though haven't seen any news reporting that yet. Yes this is a big leap if you're still on cash, but that can be said of moving from cash to cashless via credit card. From credit cards to this? I'd say this beats the experience of credit cards.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @02:52AM (1 child)
You speak of cash as though all other forms of payments are upgrades.
Cash is to sysvinit as credit card is to systemd.
If I have a credit card, MasterCard or Visa can prevent me from paying any vendor they don't like, and I have no recourse.
When Amazon accepts bitcoin (openrc or runit), I might consider going to their store.
(Score: 1) by Woosh on Monday February 26 2018, @05:08PM
I agree a little. Cash has benefits. For example lower income families can more easily control their budgets when they have cash. If you have $20 in hand and the bill is $20.01, you put something back. On debit/credit you you pay $20.01 plus interest, overdraft fees, etc. However card service companies aren't activists. Certain vendors get better rates to accept Visa, Mastercard, etc. but its based on the volume and value of transactions, not whether or not they like them. I bet Planned Parenthood and the NRA both accept Visa payments. You can always go prepaid if you like that certain degree of anonymity.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday February 26 2018, @03:02AM
If you look at how these stores work [techcrunch.com] there is none of the issues you worry about. Everything you pick up and put in your cart is instantly on your phone with no need to do any math, or even scan it with your phone. Just shop till you have what you want or approach your limit and walk out.
You don't even have to bring your wallet, flash your cash or anything. Of course you't probably have to trust a bank or an app, own a smart phone and a data plan, and any body who sings the virtue of cash is probably not going to be caught dead in that camp.
But given you have all those things, (play along with me here) what could possibly be easier that walk in, pick up, and walk out like it was your own private pantry?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @05:02PM
To be fair this is a solvable problem and the only reason it is not solved here is because Amazon doesn't care about purchases that they can't link to an Amazon account.
All that is needed is a point of sale system that takes the same information, displays an invoice for the customer to review, then the customer pays (possibly with cash). This has the potential to massively speed up the point of sale process because it may completely eliminate the need to scan items one at a time.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday February 27 2018, @06:05AM
You have a rather odd definition of "convenient".
1. Walk into store. Take item. Walk out of store.
2. Walk into store. Take item. Go to cashier. Hand cashier exact cash. (optionally receive change from cashier.) Walk out of store.
The intended clientele aren't worrying over being charged 0.10 extra over what the label on the shelf said, and in any case I don't expect that to be a very common complaint.
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(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday February 25 2018, @11:05PM (3 children)
Another thing associated with convenience is booze and smokes. After California started implementing self-checkouts California lawmakers outlawed buying alcohol from self-checkouts -- and that still to this day has me pissed, just another instance of overreaching nannystate-ism.
Anyway, the Amazon Go stores in California will be all gimmick unless sales of booze and smokes, or at the very least one of those two, are allowed. As I stated before, those stores will be only in White neighborhoods and, unlike Blacks, Whites do their grocery shopping elsewhere. Whites go to convenience stores only go get beer and bags of ice for the beer coolers, replenish their supplies of emergency hot sauce, maybe a roll of paper towels or some asswipe. Whites don't drink convenience-store coffee or eat convenience-store hot food*.
* But Goddamn, when you have the munchies and everywhere else is closed, nothing beats a fat Big-Bite hot-dog drenched with nacho "cheese" product.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @11:14PM (1 child)
Your cashier job is safe! Continue selling booze to pregnant women and selling smokes to children.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday February 26 2018, @12:24AM
Uh -- you know I'm not Chaldean, right? I have moral standards, and at least here cashiers have the right to refuse service to anyone.
People do beer-runs from my store but the shrink is relatively small compared to what I've seen over by San Diego State. For example, one time I was doing some grocery shopping at a Vons near San Diego State, because as you well know Whites don't grocery-shop from convenience stores. Well, after I paid and exited the store, I saw in broad daylight a tall athletic Black kid lift a whole shopping cart full of beer and he was literally whistling and his steps were hopping and skipping as he walked the loot at a snail's pace across the parking lot. It was literally a Warner Bros. cartoon depicting a black beer thief in real-life. What was even more hilarious was the fact that two store employees gave chase, but weren't allowed physical contact, so the Black man continued to whistle to himself and twiddle his thumbs while the two store employees were giving chase but walking, rather than getting a running start and tackling the sonofabitch.
The perpetrator was most likely a student athlete. They bring in millions for the college, so they get free passes to behave like criminals.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @03:12AM
Always interesting to hear from the People's Republic of California. In my neck of the woods, booze and cigarettes (and cough syrup, apparently) require the cashier to scan their badge and approve the sale. One cashier handles 6 express lanes or 4 grocery lanes.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by tftp on Sunday February 25 2018, @11:48PM (5 children)
(Score: 2) by arslan on Monday February 26 2018, @02:30AM (2 children)
Sure, they'll be a proportion of society that will cheat and con. They business question is then does the cost savings in automating away the legacy workforce & overhead, cutting out the payment middleman like credit cards and increase legit customer's satisfaction (due to time savings and less friction) and hopefully increase revisits offset all the negatives, one being the con cases, among other negatives...
I'm sure Amazon has enough smart folks to do some high level numbers to stack those pros/cons before they ventured into execution. There's no better way to get certainty than to execute on theory and see if it pans out.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Monday February 26 2018, @03:31AM (1 child)
They won't be able to cut off the c/c business. OK, within the Amazon property employees can buy with automatic link to their salary. Even that has specifics, given the taxes. But once these stores go forth and multiply, their customers won't be limited to Amazon workforce. The newcomers sure as hell will be using credit cards - just because it is stupid to refuse a free credit for a month. The savings will be only on workers - but they not only man the checkouts, they also refill the shelves, clean the spills and otherwise manage the store. If there are standard self-checkout kiosks, there is nothing to gain by training a camera at every customer and every shelf. Amazon is solving a problem that not only does not need a solution, but one that actively should not be solved - stores are an easy place for a junior to start his career and for a stumbled adult to find a guaranteed, albeit cheap, job.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Monday February 26 2018, @09:54PM
When I say credit card I meant physical cards. The CC comps are still there linked to Amazon pay, much like how they are linked to Paypal. That is already available long before Amazon Go came about.
I would disagree that there is no problem needing a solution. From my perspective as a retail buyer I'd say there is, and would welcome the day we can get rid of the checkout clerk and long queues that follow both the manned and unmanned checkout kiosk. Amazon probably sees a bunch of other problems as an industry player in the fast moving consumer goods sector.
I do agree that the disruption to the low-end retail workforce will not be pretty. Imho from a broader perspective, this digital renaissance is at odds to how our capitalist society works today, but rather than avoiding the former we should really look at tweaking the latter. Why should humanity be held back by dated practices?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @08:35PM (1 child)
Easier, steal rich person's phone, immediately visit Amazon store, grab everything. No cashiers, so wear a ski mask to hide your face from cameras, don't have to touch anything except the phone and stuff in the cart so no prints except the easily wipeable cart handle.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Monday February 26 2018, @10:00PM
Haven't had the pleasure of using Amazon Go yet, since there's none available in my neck of the woods.. but I'd think they would ask for some authentication like finger ID or pin on the app before entering the store?
Otherwise yea that would be dumb.. this would be an area they'd need to fix. Keep in mind they're field testing this, so there's plenty of room for improvement.
Btw, just because they can't recognize you in a ski mask, doesn't mean they can't acknowledge a crime in progress and refund/credit the owner for the lost and write it off as BAU or claim insurance, much like a credit card fraud. I'm sure they've had to factor these kind of stuff into their business plan... don't need an MBA for that...
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Monday February 26 2018, @12:17AM
Yea, but first you have to spend $$$ to join the collective and BUY and smartphone.
I'll keep my nickels, thank you very much.
(Or they could just round off the values. But that would be too simple - we have to do everything the fancy way!)
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday February 26 2018, @01:29AM
Actually, paying by "hoodie and sunglasses"* is definitely the most convenient.
*Don't bring a smartphone, rather just wear a hoodie and sunglasses (gloves might not be a bad idea too). Walk in behind someone else, help yourself to whatever you want and walk out. Since that's what everyone else is doing anyway, it won't even look strange. Now that's what I call convenience!
I assume there's some sort of proximity thing determining which smart phone to charge which products. I'm sure that once young, single men are being charged for tampons and other amusing things, hilarity will ensue.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @01:47AM (1 child)
The real value of cash is that you can be anonymous. I'm in no hurry to be tracked by the likes of Amazon.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday February 27 2018, @06:10AM
Did you know that banknotes have unique serial numbers? Thankfully, nobody is tracking those numbers, just imagine the kind of analyses you could run with that data.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by richtopia on Monday February 26 2018, @01:01AM (5 children)
Here in China, almost all transactions were cash until recently when Alipay and WeChat Pay filled the gap that credit cards fill in other countries. There are also cashier-less stands which only accept these payment methods, the building is maybe 30 square meters with convenience store items for purchase.
My first reaction is to be very resistant to using these services. However, if you compare these payment systems to credit cards, I start to see some benefit. Particularly compared to magnetic stripe and sign, which thankfully is on the way out.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Monday February 26 2018, @02:21AM (1 child)
Such as having to buy your own "credit card" device, having to replace it every couple of years, having to worry about compatibly issues, having to worry about dead batteries, having to worry about always having an available good signal, having to worry about it getting stolen more than a piece of plastic, having to worry about it getting hacked, having to worry about if it breaks and the cost of replacing it, having to worry that it tracks more than your purchases, and more.
That's just dumb.
We can do better than a magstripe these days, but when I need it I will take the free piece of plastic with a chip in it instead.
(I don't know exactly how these work, so if it doesn't absolutely require a dumb smartphone then it is not clear how)
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Monday February 26 2018, @11:17AM
I haven't been able to find documentation online how the communication occurs, but what I observe in person is the smartphone presents a barcode/qr code to identify the user. The vendor scans the code which calls home and presents the user with the sale, which then is confirmed in the app. I agree with your concern on changing smartphone technology; NFC for example still hasn't gained much traction, so the barcode approach provides one of the lowest barriers to entry: a screen and a data connection.
I also am paranoid about dead batteries, however I cannot dream up an alternative without depending 100% on the vendor's infrastructure. Having a confirmation come through a device I control should decrease the chance for fraud, as the mobile would need to be compromised or spoofed.
I do not actually have an account with any of the mobile payment vendors and I do not know what the best electronic transfer system would look like. There clearly is demand for next generation transactions as so many different systems are cropping up, and I suspect that countries like China where credit cards are not established will dominate this innovation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @04:50AM
I currently use my credit card for everything.
However, I am considering going back to cash. It has ruined me. I have lost touch with the value of what I am buying. It has become a score card of golf where I keep it as close to 0 as possible. Instead of looking at a 10 dollar purchase as something I worry about. I see it merely as a swipe. 1000 has no meaning vs 10 dollars. It is just a swipe of the card.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by canopic jug on Monday February 26 2018, @06:06AM (1 child)
My first reaction is to be very resistant to using these services. However, if you compare these payment systems to credit cards, I start to see some benefit. Particularly compared to magnetic stripe and sign, which thankfully is on the way out.
You don't want to examine the security of said payments systems nor the sand on which that foundation is built, the smartphone itself. There are occasional articles that touch on specific layers or elements, such as NFC [media.ccc.de], but nothing really that ties it all together. It's beyond me how each component in the stack can be more or less insecure and then the combined sum somehow be treated as secure.
Once an attacker has enough data, it even becomes worth their time to easily swipe the phone number [digitaltrends.com] through social engineering and then make purchases with impunity.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @05:50PM
It's really not that hard to understand. If the cost of fraud is less than the cost of avoiding it, then the system is secure enough for its purpose. Some type of fraud will almost certainly happen and some fraudsters will get a bunch of free items at Amazon's expense. But it is reasonable to expect that the vast majority of purchases are not fraudulent because most people are not fraudsters.
Amazon takes most of the risk of fraud in exchange for the (assumed) benefit of having stores open today that are desirable for its customers to shop at. This is a business decision and time will tell whether or not it was a good one. As long as this bring enough non-fraudsters into the store, then it very well can be a net win.
But if you spend, say, 5 million dollars (including opportunity costs!) to prevent 1 million in fraud, then you lose.
(Score: 1) by Woosh on Monday February 26 2018, @02:01PM
With home delivery services and Wal-Mart's curbside pickup I don't see the appeal. Home delivery services can get pricey but Wal-Mart's curbside service is free. You can already pick your Amazon orders up at a local Whole Foods. Maybe there is a market somewhere I'm missing?