Amazon Delays C-Store Opening

Retailer cites technical complications with its ‘Just Walk Out’ checkout system.

March 28, 2017

NEW YORK – The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is delaying the public opening of its first cashier-less convenience store, Amazon Go, because of technical complications.

Amazon Go was due to launch to the public by the end of the month, after launching in beta mode to employees in December, writes the news source. However, it’s not clear when the store will open due to kinks in the retailer’s “Just Walk Out” technology that eliminates the need for cash registers, checkouts and lines.

The store uses cameras, sensors and algorithms to watch customers and track what they pick up, notes the Journal, adding that Amazon has “run into problems tracking more than about 20 people in the store at one time, as well as the difficulty of keeping tabs on an item if it has been moved from its specific spot on the shelf.” The technology functions flawlessly when there is only a small number of customers inside the store, or when their movements are slow.

The Journal notes that Amazon previously said its c-store would open to the public in “early 2017,” while Bloomberg reported that the technology has been crashing when the store gets too crowded, making it increasingly difficult to track where customers are in the store and what they are picking up off store shelves. Amazon expects large crowds once the store opens to the public.

Some customers who have shopped at the store during its beta testing said it feels odd to walk out without stopping to pay, writes the Journal.

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