Amazon’s checkout-free shop is good – but it makes you feel like a criminal
Amazon Go has opened its doors with a new cash free high-tech system that IDs its shoppers from ceiling and shelf cameras.
IT has no checkouts and you don’t hand over any cash but Amazon’s pioneering supermarket makes you feel a bit like a criminal.
I strolled through the Seattle store selecting items then, feeling decidedly uneasy, simply walked out with £15 worth of stuff.
And I wasn’t alone in sensing I’m doing something shifty in this high-tech store where cameras track your purchases then debit your account.
American couple Leo and Karla Hernandez were so worried about exiting without being correctly charged that they simply didn’t leave.
After going through the electronic exit turnstiles they sat patiently in Amazon Go’s cramped adjoining dining area waiting for the receipt to ping on to their smartphone.
Ten minutes later they left with a bag of groceries — and a clear conscience.
Leo, 46, an electrical engineer from Seattle, said: “It felt very strange to just walk out at the end without handing over any money.
“We decided to wait until the receipt came through before we left, just to be on the safe side.”
Amazon Go has just opened to the public after being launched last year for the online retailer’s 40,000 Seattle staff.
It has the motto “Just Walk Out” — and it almost feels like a challenge.
How it works
1. You scan barcode from Amazon Go app on turnstile to enter.
2. High-tech system in ceiling IDs you as you shop.
3. Shelf cameras with weight sensors detect when you take an item and it is added to your virtual Amazon Go account.
4. On exit, Amazon Go totals spend, charges your account and sends receipt.
The firm is confident the “world’s most advanced shopping technology” will spell the end of checkout queues for good.
And on my visit I found no obvious kinks in the system.
I downloaded the Amazon Go app and linked it to my Amazon account.
The app gives you a unique barcode which you scan on the airport-style turnstiles to get in.
And that’s it. No other scanning or payment.
Inside, the shop has shelves packed with sandwiches, ready meals, fresh fruit and veg, crisps, cakes and drink just like you would find in mini- markets all over the States.
Carefully hidden are hundreds of cameras — barely visibly in the ceiling and on the shelves — that track the movement of all the goods.
Their infrared sensors can measure heat, although the firm says it does not use facial recognition.
Each item has a large code to help the cameras keep track.
When a shopper picks up an item from the shelf, the camera places it in their virtual basket.
If they put it back, it is removed from their account and they are never charged.
I tested the mind-bending tech by strolling around the store with a £2.79 breakfast sandwich in my bright orange Amazon Go bag for life.
Minutes later I put it back on the shelf — and the sarnie was promptly taken off my bill.
I eagerly eyed the booze section, where the top bottle of red is £30.03.
Like any supermarket, there are strict rules for buying alcohol and these shelves are manned by an employee checking IDs.
It’s the only human interaction inside the store.
After 20 minutes and 29 seconds, I walked out of the turnstiles.
Less than five minutes later, a receipt popped up on my app telling me that’s how long I’d shopped and also how much I’d spent.
It correctly listed the five items I’d taken — including a mug bearing that motto — totalling £15.15.
But this shopping experience is still not queue-free — a fire safety policy means the compact, 1,800sq ft store can only hold around 90 people at a time.
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Amazon is coy on exactly how its system works, saying it’s “made possible by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning."
It will not even confirm how widely it is looking to roll out its “Go” stores.
But after my positive experience, I’m backing this time-busting tech to serve as a shot in the arm for Britain’s high street in the years to come.