Amazon has made the bold decision to transition away from its Just Walk Out program, which allowed customers to skip the traditional checkout process in its brick-and-mortar stores. Instead, the tech giant is pivoting towards Dash Carts, where customers scan products as they place them in their shopping carts. This move comes as Amazon prepares to expand its Amazon Fresh locations later this year. The Information reports that Amazon is discontinuing Just Walk Out in larger stores and focusing on enhancing the overall shopping experience across all its locations.
Despite acquiring the upscale grocery chain Whole Foods in 2017, Amazon has struggled to establish a strong presence in the realm of in-person retail. The company has closed down various physical store concepts, such as Books, 4-Star, Pop-up stores, and even drive-up grocery stores. Additionally, Amazon ceased the expansion of its Fresh stores and shut down its “Amazon Style” clothing stores. Now, with the shift to Dash Carts, Amazon is essentially streamlining the self-checkout experience by incorporating scanners and touchscreens into special shopping carts.
The move towards Dash Carts is a departure from Amazon’s previous approach of using computer vision technology to track customer purchases. While self-checkout machines have been around since the 1980s, they have not fully gained widespread adoption. Supermarket executives have pointed out that these machines can be slow, unreliable, and lack a personal touch. Despite these challenges, traditional self-checkout systems are simpler, potentially less error-prone, and more cost-effective compared to Amazon’s previous technology-driven approach.
Amazon’s decision to incorporate palm-scanning technology into its checkout process may raise concerns among customers about privacy and security. However, this approach may be seen as a more user-friendly alternative to the complex computer vision systems that Amazon previously employed. By utilizing radio-frequency identification (RFID) scanners to track customer purchases, Amazon aims to streamline the checkout process and provide a more convenient shopping experience for its customers.
Amazon’s shift towards Dash Carts and palm-scanning technology marks a significant evolution in its checkout process. Whether customers will embrace this new approach remains to be seen, but it is clear that Amazon is continuously innovating and adapting to meet the changing needs of shoppers in the competitive retail landscape.
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