NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Amazon opened its no-register-no-checkout Amazon Go store to the public today near its headquarters in Seattle–but those expecting a general rollout of the technology or expansion to the supermarket chain, Whole Foods Market, that the e-commerce giant bought last year will have to wait much longer.
Amazon, which had been testing the concept with employees, opened only a small convenience store-sized outlet to the public and has revealed no plans yet to expand. The company had been late in getting this far, with earlier plans to open to the public last year scrubbed after technical problems sent engineers back to the drawing board.
With the launch of its demo store to the public, however, Amazon hopes to create a vision of where brick-and-mortar retailing could go–with consumers walking into a store, picking items off the shelf, and walking out, without pulling out any wallet or card. The payment for their “virtual basket” of goods would happen in the background, with the default card on file from their Amazon accounts.
