Another six cash register-free Amazon Go stores planned

After Amazon opened its first Amazon Go store last month, the company will add at least another six high-tech, cash register-free convenience stores in cities like Los Angeles and Seattle.

Talking to The Grove, LA

The company is talking to a real estate entrepreneur to have an Amazon Go store in shopping center The Grove in Los Angeles, according to news website Recode’s conversations with insiders. Amazon’s home town of Seattle would get more Amazon Go supermarkets too, with six stores planned across the country in total.

Bloomberg confirms Amazon is preparing to expand its network of cash register-free and (theoretically) employee-free stores. The company has allegedly hired four people to specifically work on Amazon Go, including location and construction managers. Amazon wants to approach the consumer and nothing is closer than the omnipresent convenience stores. That is Amazon’s strategy, according to Bloomberg. Convenience stores generate more than 200 billion dollars in turnover, excluding the major petrol station category.

QR to get inside, no cash registers to get out

Amazon Go is a small neighbourhood convenience store where consumers can walk in and out without passing by a cash register. Shoppers have to scan a QR code to enter the store, where cameras and sensors automatically register which products customers add to their shopping cart. As they walk out, everything is paid for automatically, withdrawing the amount from their bank account.

The supermarket should function entirely automatically, without the need for store employees, but the very first Amazon Go store has plenty of staff: some prepare food, like sandwiches and salads, for the fresh food division, while some are desk employees or hostesses.