An Amazon Go video on its Facebook on December last year, shows the mega online merchant opening its stores where shoppers will not have to register, pay or stand in line after shopping.
Amazon Go will be set to open stores where it sells prepared food and grocery staples, and in order to shop there a customer just has to have the ‘Amazon Go App’.
To enter the store, shoppers scan a QR code (Quick Response code) from the app on the turnstile, after that they can put their phone away and the app will assist in paying the chosen goods.
With a ‘just walk out technology’ once a shopper add an item into his/her bag, it will be simultaneously added to the shopper’s cart, if they decide to put something back, it’s also automatically removed from their virtual cart.
Once the shopper finished shopping, they can just leave, the store will automatically charge their Amazon account.
Amazon informed it will open its first store in Seattle in early 2017. If it is succeeded, It may not be long for Amazon to open its stores in other cities and countries.
Many netizens reacted to the futuristic shopping lifestyle, but not many of them supported it :
- Emma House Perhaps humans should just leave now and let technology run the earth – who benefits the most here Amazon employees but mostly one person Jeff Bezos – what about the hundreds who are employed supporting their families – Amazon should give back if they are going to take jobs like this.
- eve Sabbai I am sure someone will find a way to beat that system to get free stuff. They will still need Security and a support staff. I personally don’t like all these automated stuff. I prefer to interact with a real person.
- Justine Lockhart This is kinda cool but I feel like the app could malfunction and stealing could be an issue then also lets not forget that this would increase unemployment because a lot of people make their living working at grocery stores.
- Jeff Hendren So, if every store eventually did something like this (grocery, clothing, etc.) Who would be able to afford to shop or buy groceries? No one in retail could because they would be jobless. Correct me if I’m wrong but wouldn’t the profits actually go down?
- Tanya Flynn Are they also reducing the prices of the items since they no longer have to pay for employees/cashiers? Seems like Amazon is the only one benefiting. Humans are becoming so anti-social already and something like this only promotes that behavior.
- Natalie Jenkins-Schmidt I happen to enjoy the courteous service of my current grocery store’s cashiers and baggers…I have problems walking and it is nice to have someone to remind me of a coupon in their sales paper that I might have forgotten and for the baggers to ask if i would like to have my items double bagged or not and if I would like assistance out to my car to help take the groceries out of the cart and place them into my car…I enjoy a lot of what technology can do for us to make our lives more convenient but, on my income, I am unable to afford ordering my groceries online and then driving to pick them up or the cost and monthly bill of a smart phone… Not every human being was meant to have a job in silicon valley and machines and technology should be just as careful about replacing human beings in jobs just as much as we are supposed to be concerned with our environment and the things that we take away and/or replace in nature…