Amazon has launched a new version of its Just Walk Out technology that lets retailers achieve cashierless stores. Eschewing the ceiling-mounted cameras and shelf sensors that previously defined its system, it now has added the option for RFID tags affixed to products to track their movement.
As quick background, Just Walk Out sits under Amazon’s retail as a service (RaaS) play. After incubating the retail logistics and streamlining technology in Amazon Go stores, it started rolling it out to third parties, including Starbucks and others. More recently, it started unwinding several Go stores.
As part of Amazon’s broader RaaS play (our term) for cashierless stores, it also has the Amazon One palm scanner which customers swipe as they enter a store, or at checkout terminals. The idea is to bring operational efficiencies and logistical streamlining to retail and, more recently, to fast food.
Back to the RFID addition, this option could broaden the appeal of Just Walk Out. After experiencing some resistance due to the technology’s departure from familiar systems, RFID brings a bit of old-school dynamics back into the mix. This could serve as training wheels for retailers to get comfortable with it.
Patterns of Movement
Going deeper on the new RFID addition, it lets retailers use this established technology (short for radio-frequency identification), that many already have in play. Aligned well with clothing and apparel retailers, tags are affixed to things like clothes, shoes, and hats in order to track their real-time status.
For example, the patterns of movement detected by a given tag (location, inertial movement, etc.) can trigger the system to define its current state (think: ‘added to customer cart’). They can therefore detect events that signify a sale, such as the customer walking out of the store with a given item.
That’s where the “just walk out” part factors in. Customers can be charged for items by just grabbing them and walking out the door, which is the biggest selling point of the technology in terms of saving time and hassle. It correspondingly helps retailers boost return visits, not to mention in-store analytics.
As for payments, terminals are placed at exit gates where shoppers can tap their credit or debit card. As they pass through the gate, the RFID tags in their shopping bags will register and the payment account is charged on the spot. These terminals are also naturally compatible with the Amazon One palm reader.
Vertical Challenge
Part of the appeal lies in RFID’s established and trusted state as a retail technology. As noted, many retailers are already familiar with it and some even use it to track inventory. In such cases, adoption friction is lowered because Just Walk Out builds on the tech investments retailers have already made.
To bring this to retailers, Amazon is partnering with Avery Dennison. It piloted the RFID system at Climate Pledge Arena, for Seattle Kraken ice hockey games. It has since brought the technology to Seattle’s Lumen Field for Seahawks team apparel to be purchased this season at the in-stadium Pro Shop Outlet.
Based in Amazon’s hometown, Lumen Field already used Just Walk Out at its concession stands, where it has boasted a 60 percent increase in customer throughput and a 2x boost in total transactions per game. These metrics speak to Just Walk Out’s main selling proposition to expedite transactions.
Panning back, though Just Walk Out has been slow to gain widescale traction, there are 70+ Amazon-owned stores that employ the technology and 85 third-party retailers. These mostly include airport convenience stores and sports & entertainment venues. We’ll see what other verticals it’s able to crack.
