Amazon Ditches Just Walk Out Technology for US Fresh Stores
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Amazon is ditching the Just Walk Out Technology in its Fresh grocery stores in the United States. However, the tech giant asserts that it is not giving up on the technology behind this offering.
The Just Walk Out technology offers a Cashierless solution at Amazon Fresh stores. The solution helps provide a seamless checkout experience for shoppers. Amazon is now looking to sell the technology to businesses to increase its reach.
Amazon Abandons Just Walk Out Technology from Its Fresh Grocery Stores
Amazon is planning to sell this technology to over 120 third-party businesses by the end of the year. If the tech company manages to realize this target, it would double the number of non-Amazon entities that rely on the Just Walk Out technology.
The Vice President of Just Walk Out at Amazon, Jon Jenkins, opined that the initiative sought to help the tech company reach the third-party market. Jenkins also assured users that Amazon was not abandoning the technology.
“For us, really making sure that we can service that third-party market is the most important thing. We’ve definitely been reassuring people that we are in this for the long haul,” Jenkins said.
Just Walk Out has become an innovative checkout solution for Amazon. The platform leverages artificial intelligence and sensor trackers to see what customers have picked from the shelves. Through this technology, a customer can pick whatever they want from the store’s shelf and leave after paying with their card at the entry. This solution negates the need for cashiers.
Amazon is Boosting Its Competitiveness in the US Grocery Market
The Just Walk Out technology is not the only offering by Amazon as it seeks to gain a competitive edge in the US grocery market. The platform has also introduced smart carts at US stores.
Smart carts are available in Amazon Fresh stores and they also use sensor trackers to detect items placed in a shopper’s trolley. These carts also come with a display that shows a customer any available deals at the store. It also calculates the cost of the items placed in the cart.
Amazon is revamping its Fresh stores using technology in a bid to attract more customers. In 2017, the tech giant acquired Whole Foods, a leading US supermarket chain, for $13.7 billion.
Nevertheless, Amazon does not have it easy to outperform the competition. In 2023, the company’s CEO, Andy Jassy, said that Amazon was facing a challenge in finding a solution that would help it achieve a competitive edge in the brick-and-mortar grocery store setup in the US. The US grocery store retail space is currently dominated by giants like Walmart and Target.
