Shoppers scan discounted items as they wait in line for the opening of the new Amazon Fresh store on E. Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, California Thursday, September 15, 2022.
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Amazon is removing cashless payment systems at Fresh supermarkets in the US, marking the latest reset of its grocery strategy, the company has confirmed.
The company will not include the system, called Just Walk Out, in existing Fresh stores or in new locations scheduled to open later this year. Instead it will rely more on Dash Carts, which track and count items as shoppers place them in their carts, enabling people to skip the checkout line.
“We've invested a lot of time redesigning a number of our Amazon Fresh stores over the past year, providing an overall better shopping experience with more value, convenience and choice – and so far we've seen positive results, with increased customer numbers,” Carly Golden said. An Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement: “Shopping satisfaction and increased purchasing results were recorded.”
“We also heard from customers that while they enjoyed the benefit of skipping the checkout line with Just Walk Out, they also wanted the ability to easily find products and deals nearby, view their receipts while shopping, and know how to do so,” Golden added. Money while shopping around the store.”
the information I previously reported on Amazon's decision to cancel its Just Walk Out service in some Fresh stores.
Amazon Go convenience stores will continue to use Just Walk Out technology, along with smaller Fresh sites in the UK. The company will also continue to license the cashless system to third parties.
In 2018, Amazon debuted cashless payment technology in a convenience store on its Seattle campus. The system relies on an array of cameras and sensors throughout the store that monitor the items shoppers take with them and automatically charges them when they leave. It was a pet project for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who saw it as a way for the company to differentiate itself in the grocery market and “get rid of the worst thing about physical retail.”
“No one likes to wait in line,” Bezos, then CEO, wrote in his letter. 2018 letter to shareholders. “Instead, we envisioned a store that you could walk into, pick up what you wanted, and leave.”
Since then, Amazon's strategy around Just Walk Out has changed. In 2020, the company began selling the systems to food and retail stores at airports, sports stadiums, and more recently, hospitals. The unit was also moved from Amazon's retail group and folded into its cloud computing division.
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