Amazon and startups bet Large on checkout-free grocery tech, but widespread adoption is unclear

Shoppers at the QFC at Issaquah, Wash. had a Opportunity to test”Scan, Bag, Go,” a Brand New technology service from Kroger.

But at the entrance to some QFC close Seattle earlier that summer, a new type of shopping technologies greeted shoppers rather. The same device is used at the self-checkout kiosks to cover everything at the same time; you may also use a smartphone program instead. The notion is to eliminate cashiers from the process and lessen the quantity of time it takes to buy products. It is the most recent case of retailers analyzing new technologies to enhance the physical shopping experience inside brick-and-mortar locations. Companies which range from long-time grocers to tech startups are analyzing a large number of new tech-powered services, from online delivery to automatic checkout. The stakes are large in the $800 billion U.S. grocery industry. Nevertheless, it’s unclear which tech-fueled ideas, if any, will eliminate. Just like much in retail production these days, Amazon is now driving the trend. The Seattle-based tech giant made headlines this year when it openly opened up the very first Amazon Go, a”grab-and-go” cashier-less store which lets customers take items off the shelf and then walk out without moving via a traditional voucher line or enroll. The encounter is powered by a smartphone and a range of cameras and sensors. Amazon is currently opening up more stores in Seattle and across the U.S.. Other businesses are also developing checkout-free technology.  Ava Retail, situated a short drive from Amazon’s headquarters, also has recently rolled out its solutions inside WeWork locations and collaborates with industry giants including Microsoft, Intel, and Mastercard. It utilizes a combination of sensors, beacons, camerasand artificial intelligence, machine learning, and also smartphone apps to identify products and track shoppers, that can easily pick up items, walk out, and also have a receipt sent to them through email. “It is all about the adventure and solving for friction,” said Atul Hirpara, CEO of Ava Retail. Atul Hirpara, CEO of Ava Retail. “Amazon Go is totally free advertising for people,” he said. “Every time Amazon makes a transfer, we receive a couple more phone calls” There are lots of other smaller startups creating similar technology. Zippin just introduced a beta of its automatic voucher marketplace in San Francisco this week, with the goal of selling the technology to other stores. It is”the very first Amazon Go competition to start to the people everywhere,” according to Fast Company. “Consumer frustration with voucher lines is driving a tidal wave of need among retailers and property owners eager to extend a frictionless retail experience,” Zippin CEO Krishna Motukuri, a former Amazon employee, said in a statement.  Inokyo started its own store earlier this month at Mountain View, Calif.; TechCrunch wrote that the company”wants to be the Amazon Go.” Teachers and investors see possible for the”only walk out” concept, which is also rolling out at Asia. However, while the technology is eye catching, some uncertainty impending widespread adoption. “It may work in high-density locations for somebody who wants to only catch a water and a snack, but I do not think it will be pervasive in large-scale niches,” said Phil Lempertfounder of Supermarketguru.com. “I do not think consumers really want ” A Forrester report from May — The Top Retail Technology Investments In 2018 — said that retailers are holding on investments in checkout-free technology”because customers just don’t expect it ” My evaluation of Kroger’s scanning technician at QFC reflected this — it was a cool experience, but did not really save me much time and was not much better, if at all, more compared to having a traditional cashier. Walmart axed a similar service earlier this year. “Retailers must keep a watch out for self-checkout improvements but prioritize investing today in electronic store technician that alleviates other consumer pain points like stock visibility, unlimited aisle, drifting checkout, and even much more robust POS technologies,” said the Forrester report. Checkout-free technology may also surface new issues associated with privacy and theft, said David Marcotte, a senior vice president at Kantar Retail. Additionally, there are pressing questions regarding job displacement. For physical retailers, buying high tech cameras and sensors may be about the collecting valuable data — monitoring shopper motion, tracking inventory levels, etc. — than it is about substituting cashiers. “The mass of data they can use and harvest is tremendous,” Marcotte said. Other experimental stores focusing on market audiences and societal causes are gaining momentum and also placing pressure on traditional niches, The New York Times reported in July. But maybe the future of grocery isn’t inside the actual stores themselves. Kroger and Nuro Launch Pilot in Scottsdale, AZ. (PRNewsfoto/The Kroger Co.) Investors continue to pour money and time into grocery Shipping. Only last week alone, Kroger launched its autonomous grocery delivery program in Arizona and partnered with Chinese tech giant Alibaba to sell groceries online overseas.   Amazon has brought a whole new means of thinking to grocery store. Walmart, that impressed Wall Street with its most recent earnings report, continues to roll out online shipping and grocery pickup at hundreds of stores across the U.S.. It’s also analyzing self-driving technology with Google’s Waymo arm. Buying groceries online isn’t a new phenomenon. However, it hasn’t caught on with many Americans — only 9 percent get it done at least one time a month, according to a new Gallup survey. Nevertheless companies still see opportunity to use technology and the internet for grocery, particularly since the median cost per U.S. home on meals was 125 a week in 2007, according to Gallup. Amazon, whose grocery ambitions date back to its launching of AmazonFresh at 2007, made it clear as it consumed Whole Foods for a whopping $13.7 billion final year. Amazon has steadily integrated its e-commerce arm with Whole Foods within the previous several months.  It’s making Amazon Prime that the Whole Foods customer benefits program and also offers 5 percent back on all purchases to customers together with all the Amazon Prime credit card. The Whole Foods location in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood had a Prime booth to educate shoppers about the new discounts. (GeekWire picture / Taylor Soper) Amazon unveiled a Whole Foods grocery delivery service in February and also recently launched grocery pickup at Whole Foods stores, after other competitors — Walmart contained — which offer the same support for online purchases. And for example Blue Apron, Kroger, and many others, Amazon sells meal kits. Amazon, now valued at more than $900 billion, has a single benefit with its grocery-related products, as it can develop and test new solutions without worrying a lot about its own bottom line awarded the revenue from different areas of the business enterprise. Nonetheless, it remains to be seen whether Amazon will disrupt yet another business. Retail experts from Oliver Wyman wrote from The Harvard Business Review that”retail has been littered with promising technologies released with amazing fanfare which didn’t become mainstream because they did not sufficiently gain either the merchant or the consumer.” “Amazon has benefited from the industry buzz around its concept store, which may very well establish customer expectations for the in-store encounter of the near future,” they wrote. “However, other retailers will probably find the first costs too large and benefits too uncertain to immediately follow in Amazon’s footsteps. Instead, they ought to watch carefully and be prepared to make a transfer — if the system makes fiscal sense, and should consumers like it” Thus farthey do. Amazon Go drew giant lines when it started in Seattle earlier this year. The store has a 4.5-star evaluation on Yelp, together with customers raving about the idea. Amazon Go is part of a wider push by Amazon into physical retail, including its acquisition of Whole Foods, its own Amazon Books stores, and AmazonFresh Pickup locations. “That deal woke up the industry,” Lempert said of Amazon buying Whole Foods. “Amazon has brought a whole new method of thinking to supermarket”

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