The fact that Amazon Go has not gone past one store is telling. While I have no doubt that “just walk out” cashier-less solutions and platforms will continue to evolve, I’m skeptical that this will be widely adopted for many years to come. Part of the reason is the technology investment. The amount of current technology required to successfully do cashier-less checkout is still highly prohibitive for most retailers to deploy at scale. Cashier-less checkout is certainly part of retail’s future, but the operative word is “future.”

At this time, it is too capital-intensive to be attractive. If the cost of implementation comes down over time, it will still take a few years for this technology to be sufficiently accepted and a few more years to be widely implemented. I agree with Mark Ryski.

I suppose I am the only person who says to themselves: “Well, if I want a cashier-less experience, why don’t I just order the stuff online and skip the drive, the cart, the bagging, etc.”

I truly do not understand why this technology matters in ANY of its forms. The only place it makes sense is a c-store or a dollar store, where you need one or two items and would love to just get in and out. But those places can’t afford the technology particularly. In truth, I don’t think anyone can afford the technology, but that’s the least of it.

I simply don’t get it. When I want a cashier-less experience, I buy online.

Obviously more providers are developing technologies to eliminate the checkout line sensing there is a large market for this. Amazon Go’s camera solution has many bottlenecks — too many cameras needed, gets overwhelmed with many people in the store at the same time and high cost. The fact that Zippin is using shelf readers says that cameras by themselves cannot track the items leaving the store well. The market for cashier-less grocery stores will only grow in time due to the convenience and speed for the consumer they offer. May the best solutions giving the best service win.

Yes this is capital intensive and yes, some would prefer to just shop online if they want to avoid the cashier — but the application is real and closer than we think. If Zippin can license a solution that is “just walk out” ready at a price that is scalable — that is a huge opportunity. As I’ve said before, the need for some to see (and potentially feel) the produce, dairy and meat they buy will continue to be a driver for in-store shopping. No one likes the checkout experience so the innovators that can eliminate that friction will win.

This is just another example of technology for technology’s sake. If it can be done, it must be good and shoppers will rejoice. Not.

Are grocery shoppers really demanding “just walk out” stores? Not really. I can see this working in convenience stores for people who walk in and out with a soft drink and bag of chips. But I cannot see this working in a supermarket with a $200 order of groceries. Do these shoppers really want to bag their own groceries as they cruise the aisles as a reward for just walking out? I don’t think so.

Finally, there is the cost factor. Not many grocers will invest in this technology to reduce the frustration of long checkout lines. They would be better off hiring more cashiers and opening more lanes.

Just walk out shopping is probably a viable piece of the picture of the future of retailing, but I think it will remain a relatively small piece for the next few years at least. If it were wildly successful, one imagines Amazon would have extended the experiment and, as Paula notes, why wouldn’t I just skip the store altogether? Decades ago Superquinn pioneered a fairly interesting compromise. Customers scanned their goods as they shopped and then paid for their purchase at a pay station when they hung up the scanners. Not quite “just walk out,” but close. So the question is, what exactly is it customers don’t like? Is it going to the store in the first place; physically shopping for goods; standing in line? Before we can calculate how practical this (currently) capital-intensive technology is we need to work much harder to determine the size and character of the addressable market — and that begins by figuring out which problem we are actually trying to solve. Technology only seems like a driver of change,… Read more »

The companies experimenting with “just walk out” technology are technology innovators rather than retail competitors. Each of these companies is creating retail outlets to experiment with technology and to establish proof of concept. That does not make them retail competitors. It does, however, make them innovators ready to be acquired by existing retailers when proof of concept reaches an acceptable stage.

I hate checkout lines. I love the idea. The cost of finding and keeping trained staff is almost impossible not just in the U.S. but it’s becoming a problem all over the world. Japan’s c-store industry has a greater problem than the U.S. The technology is evolving faster than most of us realize.

When it comes to shoplifters the technology will most likely reduce theft than make it easier to steal. My projection you will begin to see a major roll out in five years.

While cashier-less technology is getting a lot of media hype, it will likely be a long time before it become a pervasive part of our shopping experience. It appears that many companies are fine-tuning the technology to dramatically increase the accuracy, however cost is a major, major obstacle.

The number of cameras and/or sensors that are required and the complexity of the technology will drive the total cost of implementation and maintenance out of reach for retailers. It would be interesting to see the cost model for the Amazon Go stores and the other prototype stores under development with the other technology companies chasing Amazon. This will probably eventually happen, but it won’t be very soon.

The retailer side has high costs, including tech improvement to existing stores. The consumer side has costs too — time in downloading, entering payment data, managing across stores and limited assortment. Examples abound in launches (around the world) but I predict it will start out as an option (just like express checkout or self-checkout) in stores before any full-scale adoption.

I believe someone on the thread mentioned segmentation, and there will be an early adopter group that jumps on board with this tech. In the meantime, it will take a long cycle before retailers adopt the tech in broader measure. Walmart canceled their Scan & Go — which provided most of the same benefits as just walk out — without the heavy tech requirements.

Zippin may have some great opportunities in licensing the tech (if they make it easy and low-cost to implement) and they would have an opportunity to penetrate the POS market far more than roll out complete new stores.

While I agree that creating AND maintaining the technology for an entire “just walk out” store is prohibitive in terms of dollars and accuracy, the concept can work (and has worked!) on brand/fixture-specific business models. Using “small data” and creating new disruptive workflows, brands can dramatically increase their marketing and merchandising efficiencies, supply chain visibility and hence margin dollars by combining technology and workflows.

The “just walk out” technology will surely have its day, even if not in the near-term. There is a place for this, but I think we are missing the boat if we expect this technology to quickly overtake large-scale, large-footprint stores like a full-service grocery supermarket or Walmart Supercenter. The more immediate use case is for smaller footprint locations like a c-store or smaller grocery outlet. The question no one is asking is if this technology will cause a change in the types of stores we see opening in urban and later suburban locations. Large brands like a Walmart or Target, who are already experimenting with smaller stores, may consider something like this because of the perceived value they think it will create for shoppers and because they can afford the technology. I expect we will see new store formats emerge that are designed form the ground up to work with cashier-less technology like this and it may just change how we shop for certain product categories. Yes, some things you will just order online… Read more »

I’m scratching my head over how this story has been covered since the first Amazon Go store opened. “Just walk out” has a narrow use case — for downtown or office park convenience stores with primarily foot traffic. Why does the business press keep insisting that this has application for full-line grocery stores when the demos clearly show shoppers buying just a couple of ready-to-consume items on a visit?

Zippin and MS/Walmart are adding fuel to the fire certainly. It is cool to see how smart shelves, video surveillance and NFC can combine to create a slightly faster checkout experience. I’m a major fan of in-store sensing for a variety of applications, so these technologies are promising. But spare me the ironic fantasy of the store where you don’t need to interact with another human yet you submit to intensive surveillance when you buy a sandwich and a Red Bull.

Zippin is not only building out their own retail stores. They are also selling the technology. The stores aren’t a simulation. They are the real-life example to showcase how the technology is working. Zippin won’t be the only one offering up its technology to other retailers. Competition will be good for everyone. Is Zippin early enough — and good enough — to stay in the game? Time will tell.