Amazon Go, the first checkout-free grocery outlet launched in Seattle

In what could possibly change the dynamics of the brick and mortar retail in a phenomenal way, the e-commerce major Amazon has launched Amazon Go, the first checkout-free grocery outlet in Seattle, the US on an experimental basis. The new store is replete with cameras and sensors which would supervise the products the shoppers take from the shelves and what the leave back. While the cash registers and checkout lines would be a thing of the past as the shoppers are billed after using a credit card on file, says the Guardian report.How it functionsInitially, all the shoppers will have to do is to scan an Amazon Go Smartphone app and get walk through a gated turnstile. If a shopper comes back through the gates with any of the products taken from the shelf, that person's associated account is billed. For instance, if a shopper picks up an item initially and on second thoughts puts it back on the shelf itself, and then automatically the item would be taken off from that person's virtual cart, says the report.

Potential DisruptionThe launch of Amazon Go is a potential disruption for the grocers, as the world's largest online retailer is experimenting with a new concept that would eventually change the way we do shopping now. It may be recalled that as part of consolidating its presence in the brick and mortar retail segment, Amazon has acquired the high-end supermarket chain, Whole Foods Market in 2017 for a consideration of $13.7 billion. According to the report, the online behemoth did not reveal if or when it would add more Amazon Go locations and further added that the company does not have any idea to add the technology to the larger and more complex Whole Food stores.Test PhaseOn a trial basis, the outlet was thrown open in December 2016 exclusively for Amazon’s employees. During that time, the company had also announced that the new outlet, Amazon Go would be open to the public in early the next year. Although it is learned that the firm faced a slew of issues including identifying shoppers with similar body types besides the children when they were brought the children of its staff on a trial basis, they created a mess by moving products helter-skelter, the report concurred.Gianna Puerini, vice-president of Amazon Go, said was quoted as saying by the report stating that the store worked very well throughout the test phase, mainly due to the company’s four years of groundwork. “As the technology was not in vogue, eventually, it was really advancing the state of the art of computer vision and machine learning.”