As Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology is implemented in London’s O2 Arena, Retail Week speaks to vice president Jon Jenkins about leveraging the revolutionary tech across more third-party locations.
Amazon has been rolling out its Just Walk Out technology in Amazon Fresh stores since 2016, but the tech was pulled from its US stores in April this year in a bid to focus on ‘smart trolley technology’.
Frictionless checkout is still used widely in Amazon Fresh stores in the UK, as well around 150 third-party stores in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
With the team now focused on tripling the number of third-party Just Walk Out stores in the UK, Jenkins discusses how the tech can improve operations and provide a seamless customer experience for stores in arenas, stadiums and other venues.
What is Just Walk Out tech and how faultless is it?
“We have to answer three questions: Who took something? What did they take? And how many of that thing did they take?
“The way it works is you tap your credit card or mobile wallet when you enter. As you move through the store, there are cameras on the ceiling watching the shelves [including] what you take off the shelf and what you put back on the shelf. Then when you leave through the exit gate of the store, we compute a virtual receipt that is charged to the credit card that you tapped to the mobile wall when you entered.
“We’ve seen benefits in terms of reducing store theft because of this.”
Why the push into third-party locations?
“The whole point of Just Walk Out is to provide a seamless, frictionless customer experience. One of the places you’ll find our technology is in sports stadiums and event venues like the O2. We also have the tech at a store in Excel London and that has been pretty amazing as revenues at that store are up 56% on before Just Walk Out was installed.
“Telford hospital also has a store with the tech, and the benefit there is different. The store can stay open 24 hours a day, potentially operating overnight unstaffed, which gives the hospital doctors and nurses access to high-quality food and beverages 24 hours a day; whereas before, they might have only been able to access vending machines overnight.
“There’s definitely an increase in loyalty to these kinds of stores, too. So the SSE Arena Belfast has a local hockey team that plays there, so there are people who go back on a very regular basis. Once they learn that the store is there, and that it’s fast, they will seek it out because they want to make sure they can get their stuff quickly. People hate standing in line, so if we can solve that problem – it’s a meaningful problem to solve.”
Does this mean the tech is being phased out of convenience and grocery stores?
“We found that the people who really love Just Walk Out technology are people who are on mission-driven shopping trips. Our Amazon Fresh stores in the US are massive grocery stores at around 40,000 square feet, but in the UK, they are much smaller at around 3,500 square feet.
“People using smaller stores are coming in at noon for their meal deal or picking up a couple of things on the way home to make dinner. They want to get in, get out and have this sort of friction-free experience, so this is where Just Walk Out is a good fit.”
How does the technology impact staff?
“We don’t really see a reduction in staff at these stores. What we’ll typically see is that staff who were sitting behind the till are now out interacting with customers. The other thing we see is because sales go up so much at these stores, those employees are needed to restock the shelves. During the breaks at [big] events, items are being sold so quickly.”
How is Just Walk Out evolving?
“This is still early days for this technology and we believe that there’s probably a lot of innovation to come in this space. We work very closely with our operators, whether at a university, a hospital, or office building, to try and understand what needs their customers have so that we can implement the new technology.
“We often hear people say they would like different types of selections. So if you look at the very earliest Just Walk Out stores, there was a lot of pre-packaged food and beverages. But now you can buy self-serve kombucha from dispensers, frozen yoghurt machines with toppings, slices of pizza, self-serve coffee machines.
“In the early days of Just Walk Out, we didn’t necessarily support this, but now due to customer demand, we want to figure out how to make that stuff work, too.”
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