What is the one thing that you hate about grocery shopping other than having to remember the long list of items? Standing in queues, of course! But e-retail website Amazon seems to have found an easy solution to this problem, well, at least they thought they did — opening a cashier-less store.
But what was planned to be a hassle-free hi-tech grocery store, turned out to be a complete disaster as people could be seen waiting in long queues outside the store on Monday morning. In theory, ‘people were waiting in queues so they don’t have to wait in queues’.
The e-retailer has opened a fully-automated cashier-less grocery store in Seattle, Washington. As it goes, the store has no cash registers, checkout stations.
Amazon Store (Photo: Amazon)
So how does this store work?
You will have to scan your app at one of the entrance’s turnstiles. Once you’ve done that, simply grab the items you want to buy, put them in a bag and walk out from the store. Apparently, the app keeps a track of all the items you pick up or put back on the shelves. It then charges your Amazon account for the items that you take home. Shortly after you have checked out of the store, you will get a receipt for your purchase.
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According to Amazon, the store employs the same type of technology used in self-driving cars, which includes computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning.
In case you are wondering, the store is not entirely devoid of Amazon employees. The store has a team of associates working in the kitchen and in the store to help the customers. And it is open from Monday to Friday from 7 AM to 9 PM.
Amazon Go Store (Photo: Amazon)
So what can you buy at the store?
For now, the store offers ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack options made by its chefs and other popular kitchens and bakeries in the city. It also includes essentials like bread, milk, cheeses, and locally made chocolates. It remains uncertain if the e-retailer would expand its store to include other items as well.
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Avoiding queues or no?
Ironically, even though the store has been set up with the idea of avoiding queues and providing a hassle-free shopping experience to its customers, people could be seen waiting in endless queues outside the store. Here are some of the tweets that show the state of affairs outside the Amazon Go store:
Long lines as #AmazonGo opens now. The hi-tech grocery store in #Seattle opens to the public TODAY at 7am. #komonews pic.twitter.com/lwKphK38Yy
— Suzanne Phan (@SuzannePhan) January 22, 2018
“no lines, no checkouts, no registers” model of #AmazonGo
PC : @SuB8u pic.twitter.com/YihfWkhBch
— Srinivasan Narayanan (@girivas92) January 23, 2018
People in line to shop at a store with no line >> #irony #retail #amazongo pic.twitter.com/usZ2kjYXLd
— Joanne Moretti (@JoannMoretti) January 23, 2018
AMAZing Times we live in ….
People standing in this #AmazonGo queue to avoid standing in queue at the checkout counter pic.twitter.com/1m2ikUclBl— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) January 23, 2018
#AmazonGo @JeffBezos People waiting in line so they don’t have to wait in line pic.twitter.com/fqcgA8NtwT
— Rich Ochoa (@richochoa) January 22, 2018
People in line to shop at a store with no line >> #irony #retail #amazongo pic.twitter.com/usZ2kjYXLd
— Joanne Moretti (@JoannMoretti) January 23, 2018
Definition of innovation in 2018:
Stand in line for hours at Amazon Go to literally save *minutes* in checkout time. https://t.co/51MyLb5Ry3
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