Amazon drops ‘just walk out’ technology at its US retail locations

Amazon’s US-based Amazon Fresh stores will no longer offer customers the option to “just walk out,” and will move to a system of scanners attached to carts instead of the more advanced computer vision system that obviated the checkout process altogether.

Amazon confirmed the report, first published this week by The Information, in a statement today, saying that it would prioritize the Dash Cart as the checkout option over “just walk out,” which uses a system of smart vision cameras to track customers, identify products, and charge purchases to Amazon accounts without the need for buyers to do anything beyond walk into the store and take products off of the shelf.

Amazon’s technology is present in 130 third-party locations, the company said, which will be unaffected by the move to the Dash Cart in the company’s own stores.

Over the past several years, Amazon has offered “just walk out” in some stores and the Dash Cart in others, according to Amazon, which notes that “just walk out” was generally preferred in smaller stores, and the Dash Cart in larger ones. “Just walk out” will remain available in the company’s smaller Amazon Go stores in the UK, and to third-party customers that use the technology.

“We’ve … 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 nearby products and deals,” spokesperson Jessica Martin said.

In essence, the technology may have been a little too advanced for the rank and file of US customers, according to Matt Arcaro, research director for computer vision tools and technology at IDC.

“The biggest challenge is just the novelty of it,” he said. “How do you get people to want to integrate it into their day?”

Moreover, Arcaro added, third parties adopting highly novel technology like “just walk out” face considerable up-front costs in implementing such a system, including the required cameras, back-end computing devices, and weighted shelving. In businesses like grocery stores, which tend to have thin margins already, such a capital outlay often doesn’t make economic sense.

“It’s untenable for a lot of companies — even Amazon and their deep pockets,” he said. “Maybe as the technology matures and gets better from an AI perspective and better-optimized for lower-cost processors.”

Such a system poses regulatory risks as well, not least the issue of tobacco and alcohol sales. “Just walk out” and similar systems need buy-in from stakeholders in government at every level in order to successfully integrate into daily life, Arcaro noted.

“You’re having to work with constituents in small towns who see it as a labor replacement — which it is,” he said.

A more gradual approach to automating retail locations, according to Arcaro, may be a more productive way forward. An ecosystem of automated checkouts and related technology already exists, and has made gains in the industry, offering a more gradual — and economically tenable — pathway. Barriers to entry are likely to shrink over time as well.