Amazon Prepares to Sell its Auto Checkout Systems to Other Retailers

• Amazon hopes to have its cashier-less systems deployed everywhere in America soon.
• Already, it is rumored that many retailers are interested, as the benefits from the “Go” systems are numerous.
• This opens the way to higher unemployment, quicker shopping, and deeper privacy infiltration.

A new age in the field of retail stores is on its dawn, as Amazon is planning to sell its “Just Walk Out” technology that has been under testing on the Amazon Go stores. Amazon is operating these systems in 26 locations in the United States, with the first one opening its doors on January 22, 2018. Already, the system has proven to be ideal for convenience stores, as there have been no major problems with the sensors, the product tracking systems, or the QR scanners that caused any delays. This means that for Amazon, the time to sell “Just Walk Out” to more retailers has come.

While the tech giant preferred not to name the retailers who have already signed deals to get the system, they have stated that the size of them is such, that cashier-less shopping will go mainstream. This means that the face of retail stores is about to change fundamentally, as many stores will now follow the “enter, grab what you want, walk out” approach. There will be no cashier lines, and no waiting for change and receipts, and no throughput bottlenecks. All that will be needed to carry with you is a valid credit card, and that’s it.

Amazon has even set up a dedicated website to call retailers to express their interest in "Just Walk Out" and get in touch with them. As the company claims, it would only take a few weeks to install the system on an existing store, having minimal impact on the current operations, and bringing amazing benefits once it's set up and running. Amazon will continue to offer 24/7 support to these retailers, as well as system maintenance and guidance on how to get the most out of it.

All that said, there’s always the issue of “data collection” on the back of our minds which could potentially be an amazing source of additional income for Amazon. The company claims that they will only collect what data is needed to provide shoppers with an accurate receipt, but we expect that they would want to aggregate valuable shopping trends data from a huge number of shops, even if that data would somehow be truly anonymized. Shopping with your card is linking your preferences with your identity, and using camera footage in conjunction with facial recognition databases would be very easy in the future. This isn’t planned or admitted right now, but we’re seeing the laying of the basis for all this potential.