Amazon is dumping it’s Just Walk Out tech from all it’s Fresh grocery stores in the US, which faced criticism on many fronts.
Some of them include the excessive reading of customers’ biometrics, order mismanagement and late receipt delivery. Also, the tech needs advanced cameras and sensors to work and doesn’t fulfil the popularised goal – an automated checkout process.
Expensive, and Not Working as Intended
After revolutionising how we source products from the market, Amazon tried innovating the checkout process at physical stores. The solution – Just Walk Out, a technology that involves several cameras and sensors fitted in the store to constantly track what customers pick up and charge them before leaving the store.
While poised to become the cashier-free solution, it failed to grow as intended. For starters, the tech is revealed to have over 1,000 real people in India scanning the camera feeds to ensure accurate checkouts. This is contrary to the staff-free process Amazon talked about.
Also, the Just Walk Out concept needs expensive equipment to set up at high ceilings, which is unlikely at most stores. This led Amazon to adopt the system only at half of it’s Fresh stores in the US, and some Starbucks locations and hospitals.
Also, many customers have earlier complained of order mismanagement and the late delivery of receipts. And finally, the company is also accused of collecting more customer biometrics than required.
All these led Amazon to ditch the idea in the US and roll back to the traditional human cashier system, as noted by The Information. Calling this move a part of a larger effort to revamp it’s retail grocery arm, Amazon said the Just Walk Out technology will continue to be offered in select stores in the UK.
Also, the company plans to bring it’s Dash smart carts to retail locations after successful testing at several Whole Foods and Fresh stores. These intelligent carts will have scales and sensors to track spending in real-time and let consumers skip the checkout line.
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