Amazon Go, the e-commerce cashier-less grocery store in Seattle opened just a few days back. A grocery store without any checkout counters which is the new innovation in the e-commerce sector. While most of us wonder how the store would work without a cashier? How will a customer pay for the product they bought? What are the pros and cons of this latest innovation?
While most e-commerce businesses are moving from brick and mortar store to the online world and creating an online presence, Amazon the e-commerce giant is travelling the other way round.
The main reason why businesses shifted to the online world is to provide customers with the convenience of avoiding the long queues of the supermarket. The whole purpose is to be able to order anything and everything from the comfort home. Amazon Go, a grocery store where there are no checkout counters, provides the same level of convenience. Customers get the product on the same day without standing in the queue and waiting for their turn to checkout.
Read ahead to understand what is Amazon Go, how it works, and its advantages & disadvantages.
What is Amazon Go and how does it work
Amazon Go is a brick and mortar grocery store that does not require any checkout. Amazon has recently created the world’s most advanced feature so that customers do not have to wait in lines to pay for the product they have bought.
Customers can just walk into the store, download the Amazon Go app on their mobile, take the product they want and leave. They have a walk-in technology that automatically detects when a product is taken from or returned to the shelves and keeps track of them in a virtual cart. After picking up all the products they need, and simply leave the store. Shortly afterward, they’ll find a receipt in their Amazon account.
Advantages
- Simpler and quicker checkout process
- Less use of paper money and more of online payment
- Increased user experience of offline customers
- Cost of labor dramatically reduced
- Amazon can minutely track individual shopping behavior to improve the online experience
Also Read: How to Engage In Behavioral Targeting for More Sales
Disadvantages
- Shoplifting
I think I just shoplifted?? #AmazonGo didn’t charge me for my Siggi’s yogurt ? #nolinesnocheckout #freestuff pic.twitter.com/RDPhC5ryXD
— Deirdre Bosa (@dee_bosa) January 22, 2018
- Queues not inside the store but outside the store
I’m in Seattle and there is currently a line to shop at the grocery store whose entire premise is that you won’t have to wait in line. pic.twitter.com/fWr80A0ZPV
— Ryan Petersen (@typesfast) January 22, 2018
Launch your ecommerce store with customer-centric features
Conclusion
As and when Amazon Go reaches maximum people and masses adopt it, we will get to know more advantages and disadvantages of the recent innovation. Will the Amazon Go experience shift Amazon’s online customers to the store? Will it help in bringing better user experience online? Will it be able to work even when the crowd is trying to shift to online shopping? Time ha answers for all these questions. In the meanwhile, all we need to do is just wait and watch how things go for Amazon Go.
