Amazon Grocery Store Concept to Open in Seattle in Early 2017
December 05 2016 - 1:10PM
Dow Jones News
Amazon.com Inc. said Monday it plans to open Amazon Go, its
first small-format grocery store, to the public early next year in
its hometown of Seattle.
The roughly 1,800-square-foot store, which resembles a
convenience store-format in a video Amazon released, features
artificial intelligence-powered technology that eliminates
checkouts and cash registers. Instead, customers scan their phone
on a kiosk as they walk in, and Amazon automatically determines
what items customers take from the shelves. After leaving the
store, Amazon charges their account for the items and sends a
receipt.
"Our checkout-free shopping experience is made possible by the
same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer
vision, sensor fusion and deep learning," the company adds.
Amazon Go is part of the company's broader effort to move into
brick-and-mortar groceries to capture a bigger piece of food sales,
one of the few types of shopping that remains predominantly
in-store. Amazon has been exploring concepts—known internally as
Project Como—involving both curbside pickup and small-format
stores, hoping to grab a bigger piece of the market and to better
compete with rivals such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Grocery sales may be crucial to Amazon's growth because
Americans restock their refrigerators each week, something that
could provide opportunities to sell more profitable items alongside
cheese and chocolate.
Until now, Amazon has centered its grocery strategy around
Amazon Fresh, a subscription service that promises quick food
delivery for online orders.
Amazon Go will sell ready-to-eat meals, snack options and
grocery staples like bread and milk, according to Amazon. In
addition, the store will offer chef-designed "Amazon Meal Kits,"
which will provide the ingredients to cook a meal for two in a
half-hour.
Amazon says on its website that the new store, located in
downtown Seattle near its headquarters, is already open to its
employees, and that it will open to the public early next year.
Write to Laura Stevens at laura.stevens@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 05, 2016 12:55 ET (17:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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