Amazon starts selling checkout-less tech to retail rivals

The online titan, which has launched the justwalkout.com website to help advertise its tech to potential partners, said it has already signed “several” deals with unnamed retailers.

Customers in shops that use the technology will need to insert a payment card into a gated turnstile in order to enter rather than scanning an app, which shoppers are required to do in Amazon Go stores.

The turnstiles will display ‘Just Walk Out technology by Amazon’, but other branding will be controlled by the retailer.

Shoppers will be charged for any items they pick up once they leave the store through the same turnstiles.

Customers who need a receipt for their purchases can visit an in-store kiosk before exiting and enter their email address.

Amazon’s strategic shift to start licensing its technology comes three years after the etailer opened its first Amazon Go convenience store at its HQ in Seattle.

Just last month, Amazon opened a much larger 10,500 sq ft grocery store, which uses the same technology to sell a broader range of 5,000 products, in Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

It is understood Amazon has ambitions to bring both formats to the UK.

Amazon’s decision to license its technology to third parties is in line with its broader strategy of selling its internal capabilities. It already allows retailers to use its expertise in warehouses and cloud technology to support websites.

Amazon vice president of physical retail and technology Dilip Kumar told Reuters: “This has pretty broad applicability across store sizes, across industries, because it fundamentally tackles a problem of how do you get convenience in physical locations, especially when people are hard-pressed for time.”

The justwalkout.com website said the tech “has operated with high reliability and accuracy for years in our stores” and would “bring fast and convenient checkout experiences to more shoppers” across the globe.