Amazon Go — Amazon stores with no lines or checkout 🛍

@rrhoover try shoplifting and a drone will take you to jail :)

@rrhoover I love this product. It's exactly what we're working on at Selfycart but implementing it into existing stores. This will be the future of retail.

@bear_silber @rrhoover While the self-check-out is awesome and probably the future of retail check-out. I think the main benefits of Amazon Go is much more. With the ability to just take and buy an item, without scanning ever, the friction of buying is greatly reduced (similar to one-click purchases). This will definitely increase what people buy, particularly families. Personally, I think the greatest advancement for Amazon Go will be tracking of the stores. Amazon could collect every moment of the store (like the casino in Oceans 13). They can get the reactions of customers for every product. They can see where the consumers eyes are going. Amazon could change the lighting to highlight/feature items for every individual. With Amazon's Kiva systems, they could even customize the shelves for particular times of the day without any effort from employees. Retail stores will have to "Grow or die" -Phil Knight I'm excited to see where retail stores will go.

@matthewtwhuang @bear_silber @rrhoover Super glad to hear that I'm not the only person who made any Oceans 13 references when talking about Amazon Go.

@bear_silber - I just wanted to check out Selfycart's website - Can you please fix it so that it's not 100mg to have it come up before the site shows anything on it [36secs] ? even with a fast connection that's insane :/ [a full load is 164mg :/]

@nikhiljoisr I disagree with that, bitty I'm curious your reasoning?

@chrismessina The number of people who buy groceries is much larger than the number of people who commute using cars. Also, the sheer scalability of using similar technology like this in other stores will impact several lives. Although, I was hasty in not mentioning a time frame I think. Self-driving cars may turn out to be more impactful given enough time but in the immediate future, I'd give Amazon Go the upper hand. P.S: Huge fan of your work at Uber. I'm a beta user and love the way your team works. :)

@chrismessina @nikhiljoisr VERY interested in the reasoning here as well. 100% disagree.

@odower The number of people who buy groceries is much larger than the number of people who commute using cars. Also, the sheer scalability of using similar technology like this in other stores will impact several lives. Although, I was hasty in not mentioning a time frame I think. Self-driving cars may turn out to be more impactful given enough time but in the immediate future, I'd give Amazon Go the upper hand.

@nikhiljoisr I not actually sure that there are more people who shop for groceries than commute by car? But either way the impact is the important part. I think it's difficult to argue that a service that saves me a few mins per day at the grocery store will have a bigger impact on people than a service that will reduce the number of care on the road, reduce road fatalities and improve mental health by letting people rest and study etc. while driving! Love what Amazon have done here, don't agree it will have more impact than self driving cars.

@nickabouzeid From looking at the video and website, it seems like they're using a combination of cameras and sensors to understand who you are and which product you're selecting, respectively. They don't mention bluetooth or other wireless tracking tech for the user, so my understanding is that cameras "watch" you as you navigate around the store. Simultaneously, computer vision places you at precise points in the store. The "sensor fusion" is probably integrated into each shelf, which identifies the product you select. The name suggests that it might not be a single type of sensor, but perhaps a series of sensors. I'd like to think they could be motion and RFID sensors like those used by shipping/logistics companies (which is essentially Amazon's core business). Machine learning ties it all together (where you are, what products you've selected, and what account to charge). These are all just assumptions based on the website and video. Would love to hear what other folks think.

@bikebodenberger @nickabouzeid That's my assumption as well, but since it uses cameras, how would it handle a really busy store with a bunch of people all exactly 5' 10" tall? I'm assuming it could potentially fall back to it's other inputs, but the complexity of doing what it's doing would seem like it needs every piece of the triangulation to make an accurate charge. Maybe the cameras are embedded in the shelves themselves (vs maybe in the ceilings) and it uses some sort of pattern/face recognition to identify you. There has to be some fringe cases where it could break though. Ex. when you're sitting there thinking about what to get, and you're in someone's way so they kind of duck underneath you and reach in front of you to get what they need. Or what if you get cold while you're shopping, and put a jacket and hat on? My gut says this could be hacked by people pretty easily and they seem to be trusting the tech a lot, but then again, we have cars driving around by themselves, so maybe it all works?

@wuss @nickabouzeid Maybe I'm way off, but I'm thinkin' the cameras use facial recognition as an identifier. If they aren't using something like bluetooth, then there needs to be a unique identifier to tie you to your app. The baseline photos could be uploaded during app onboarding or maybe there's even a facial scan feature. And the more you use the store, the more data (images of you) Amazon feeds back into their neural net. Which is where the machine learning comes in. The store is learning more about you each time you use it, painting a clearer picture of you and your buying behavior.

@bikebodenberger @wuss @nickabouzeid They are absolutely using bluetooth, as well as wifi, and other RFID-based technologies. They just called it "Sensor Fusion" to keep it simple or maybe it sounds better with their focus groups. They are going to use as much data as possible to match your location in the store with the sensor of the the item that was removed from the shelf (just like the mini-bar in a hotel). So this is your phone's location combined with computer vision to recognize your face and body. The machine learning is just to get smarter about handling different behaviors and corner cases as they get more training data.

@nickabouzeid I feel like they're embellishing the 'computer vision' aspect of this. I wouldn't be surprised if all they're doing is scanning RFID tags on all your items with the turnstile looking things at the store's entrance when you walk out. That said, such a system wouldn't allow you to peruse your cart or view your subtotal while still shopping -- so perhaps that's not how they're doing it and they are in fact using cameras and facial recognition -- but doesn't that seem over-the-top for something that RFID scanners (or equivalent tech) should be able to do easily?

@macrina_ True. We should start thinking about how society will shape by these innovations.

@timdechau @macrina_ Have a look at this list and think about how many will be around in 10-20 years: http://www.ranker.com/list/most-...

@macrina_ funny though, since that video is a lot more optimistic about the shift away from human labor.

@macrina_ @amcafee With the general knowledge that manufacturing jobs were lost due to technology advances, I'm curious to see where this is going to go in the next 3-5 years and how other retail establishments will expand to answer Amazon's call.

@chrismessina please watch it again carefully, he is optimistic about technology and innovation (and I am too, amazing times) but the rapidly shift away from human labor (especially middle class, Bill) it is a problem to witch we have to find a solution fast (watch it from 5:30, as a solution he proposes guaranteed minimum income @ 9:57)

@mike_flores23 I used to be in retail management in Amazon's backyard. Believe me, they're all scared of Amazon and have been for years. Kroger is fast tracking their order online and pickup at store service ASAP to beat the Amazon same service just a few blocks away. It's going to be very interesting.

@dnuzum Yeah... wonder how well this could work for a family shopping? Or even just a couple. Still very cool though!

@hamstu I know this concept will be huge for the area it is in. Their upcoming order and pickup concept is in a high commute area that will grab tons of business, but I'm more interested in the quality and availability. I regularly see Amazon Fresh trucks shopping at competitor grocery stores. Those competitors know what their customers want for freshness and when and how much they want of it. Will be very exciting to watch.

@dnuzum I work at Macy's Systems & Technology. We're generally in a state of denial about Amazon :D. I see this grocery store as, in part, a beta for other Amazon stores (*cough* apparel). Interesting times in this space.

@mike_flores23 It's not just you guys. Many companies were for a long time! To be honest, general goods like apparel, home, etc. will take some time. If you look at the sort of selection on Prime Now and Fresh, you're going to see the sort of goods that will be in Amazon's wheelhouse. The 12-24 hour demand for "need this right now" just isn't there for a sweater or a dining set, but someone needs a small round of groceries for dinner and they want the newest movie or to try out or gift a Kindle or an Echo, that's pretty easy. Especially with the Prime Now and Amazon Fresh distribution centers in the area. These new brick-and-mortar (I don't think they can truly be classified as traditional retail, but that will change in the next few years as retail aligns to the order and pickup demand) locations aren't very big. My guess is Amazon will be heavily relying on their existing local distribution network to get the bulk of the orders and goods to locations while these locations hold some staple goods they know they need and finish up packing/preparation for pickup. I'd be really interested to see the selection available at the Go format. I'd guess a lot more simple prep/ready-to-eat goods along with produce, meat, and fresh goods with a split space for storeroom. This first location is literally across the street from Amazon's new campus (which is why it's only open to Amazonians right now) so it's definitely curtailed to younger, smaller "families" that live in areas pretty short on traditional grocery formats. All around, it's brilliant for all involved. Amazon gets their feet wet in the traditional space and have the prime (ha) consumer market for such a concept. The first unannounced order-and-pickup appears to be mostly "backroom" to hold goods and orders with a small lobby to sell a small assortment of goods and complete pickups with maybe 10-20 parking spots along along a very busy thoroughfare that connects Downtown with Ballard (one of the busiest commutes in the area, but Amazon's bread-and-butter customer base). The next year or two is going to be make or break for both Amazon and traditional retailers. The current Demand Generation is going to determine what goods they want and how they want to receive those goods. I can't say much, but I can tell you that multiple traditional retailers are exploring similar concepts to Amazon not only for selling goods, but for ordering and replenishment as well. NFC, AI, ZigBee IoT, etc. It's all pretty amazing.

@chrismessina what I can’t tell is…. Do you use the Amazon Go app to scan each item and then leave (aka you are the check out) or do you just grab and item and leave and it does everything for you automatically?

@gavindonovan @chrismessina I bet the early versions are a hybrid. There's still a checkout scanner of some sort, but it pairs with your phone.

@_yannbertrand yeah, I don't think people realize how hesitant folks outside of SF might be to something like this ... especially when the alternative is the "normal" grocery store with self checkout, etc... there's a reason stores have to give customers receipts, because they don't inherently trust them to charge them accurately

@swetzequity @_yannbertrand Remember that prices will be lower too, and there will probably be membership bonuses for Prime members. Receipts will be emailed and/or stored in the app. People who care about privacy won't use it, but that's a small percentage. Everyone else is happy to have a Facebook account.

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@lehrjulian I feel like something similar to Android/Apple pay would work well. NFC is faster and you don't have to perfectly line up a barcode with a scanner. Edit: Although a barcode would be compatible with all phones, but also less secure.

@lehrjulian It's the best solution available right now for low entry barrier. I'm sure they'd rather use NFC, but with Apple having it locked down, they'd be missing a gigantic marketshare to not implement something that can be used by everyone.

@dnuzum @lehrjulian @sleumasm yes onboarding aspects are super important, for me there is a ton of friction to get into the store, you can't just walk in and pay cash. But I assume that people will be willing to do a heavier onboarding process for the benefit of not having to wait in line to pay.

@james_osullivan I am not able to quantify that but if you think about this the only staff reduction will be checkout people there will still be people in warehouses to stock inventory etc. They may not rely just on cameras it could be combination of sensors like rfid etc from what i know some small rfid sensors costs like 50c Ease of use = more sales I think this will be a huge revenue driver for Amazon

@karthiksekarnz Yeah there are a lot of variables. Perhaps a staff increase? Cashiers might be gone but there might be added people for oversight, and those people might need to be trained/technically qualified. It would be interesting if Amazon showcased the net differences.

@tonybrix Some stores have tried it and discontinued it due to low adoption, it being too easy to shoplift, and problems with produce items that have to be weighed. It works well at Sam's Club due to the size of the items (harder to steal).

@askdaylen almost all technologies have had an initial slow adoption period. (the first touch screen cell phone came out in the early '90s.) But I think this is a much better alternative to Apple/Android/etc. pay