Since the beginning of the company in the 90s, Amazon has been a revolution for business and retail with all the e-commerce experience and now, their cashierless stores will not be the exception.
In January 2018, Amazon started opening the first ‘Amazon GO’ store and then in August they opened a second one, both in their hometown Seattle. In September 2018, the third Amazon Go store was inaugurated at the Troy Block complex in South Lake Union, and it’s the largest so far, with 2,100 square feet (200 m2).
This new business experience is auto sufficient; Customers must download the Amazon Go app for iOS and Android, which is linked to their Amazon.com account, before shopping at the store. They don’t need any help from anyone at the stores to get or pay their products and, as soon as they leave the store, everything would be charged to their account on their Amazon membership.
Since the beginning there were rumors about a new store in NYC, and they were confirmed last week, after Amazon posted on Thursday night several job listings for the New York-area. Amazon also confirmed last May that it’ll open Amazon Go stores in San Francisco and Chicago, but there is no official announcement when.
Amazon, as a reminder, also now owns Whole Foods and said it won’t bring the Go technology there. Walmart is also reportedly working on its own cashier-free checkout experience, and other retailers like Kroger are likewise experimenting with different kinds of scan-and-go technology.