How does an Amazon supermarket work, where there are no sellers or cashiers
Last week in Seattle, the American company Amazon opened an offline store, which, apparently, will be the first link of the revolution in the world of retail. To get to the supermarket, dubbed Amazon Go, customers at the entrance put a smartphone with a QR code from the application to the turnstile. And then the fun begins.
The area of the trading floor is small — 167 square meters, the usual food products are laid out on the shelves. But there are no sellers or cashiers anywhere to be seen. There are only consultants who help you navigate and check the documents for the purchase of alcoholic beverages. Without a consultant, it's really not immediately clear what's what.
There are no shopping carts in Amazon Go. Customers immediately put the products in branded bags and go home with them. Each item taken from the shelf is automatically entered into the shopping list in the customer's online account. It is worth putting it back, and the program will delete the position from the virtual basket. At the exit, the person puts the smartphone to the reader again and instantly pays for purchases. No queues at the checkout.
Amazon is not particularly spreading about how this tricky mechanism works. Judging by the hundreds of small cameras floating under the ceiling, the technology is based on the principles of computer vision. This means that the program tracks absolutely all products in the store, and it does not require attaching a chip to each chocolate bar or sticking a barcode.
The appearance of such a store again raises a sensitive topic. And where, in fact, will people work when everything around becomes automated? There are more than three and a half million cashiers in the USA alone, and it's time for them to worry about their employment. Amazon representatives, however, are playing ahead of the curve, saying that jobs will remain. In addition to consultants, cooks and merchandisers work in the store, laying out goods on the shelves.