No queues, no checkout tills

When you think about Amazon, you think about a company that is completely online, you think about a company that has no store presence and is at the cutting edge of retail with their massive fulfilment centres. That is how I think of Amazon. Well, wait. That is about to all change. Except, not in the way that you may have thought. There may still involve very few people in these stores. The technology being touted is something called "Just Walk Out". Here is an introductory video that Byron sent to the WhatsApp group, introducing Amazon Go, with the pay off line of "No lines. No Checkout. (No, Seriously) - The world's most advanced shopping technology. You see that the clip, a day old, has had 1.5 million views already and counting at a rapid rate.

Amazon Go, as per the landing page, is a concept that is being tested amongst their employees, expected to open in early 2017 in Seattle, the place in the state where major innovation takes place. As a result of lower tax rates. A convenient and easy space, 1800 square feet, which is around 167 square metres. So you cannot fit too much into the space, at least into the front end space. It looks a lot like packaged food, convenience, will be the order of the day at shops like this. And we really like that theme, packaged and prepared food, which is why we have investments in Bidcorp.

Whilst the suggestion is that Amazon will roll out around 2000 of these stores, I suspect that if it does not work, they will immediately cut the program. Looks like a great concept, not so? And that, in the links, dovetails nicely into what jobs are likely to be eliminated here. Provided that the company can find some cheaper system to replenish the shelves and to make the sandwiches. What about stock control and theft? Surely there has to be security? I am pretty sure that they have thought this all through though. See the WSJ article - Amazon Working on Several Grocery-Store Formats, Could Open More Than 2,000 Locations.