Customers check in with an app or credit card at the first Amazon Fresh in Washington, and the only one with both cashierless technology mixed with cashiers, on opening day, Thursday, June 17, 2021 in Bellevue, Washington. These shoppers won’t have to go to a cashier.
“As an observer who’s watched the company for years, and knows the economics of the grocery industry, I can’t say it makes sense,” Kodali said. And Amazon’s recent changes to its grocery business “suggest that they don’t think it makes sense either.” “Some people would call their foray into groceries a mistake, and that would be fair, to an extent,” Dollarhide said. “They’ve had more closures, resets and renovations than they’ve actually introduced concepts at this point.” Today, he said, that’s still the case. “Nothing has changed since Day 1 for Amazon groceries. Everything remains in flux.
“There’s nothing new — this is kind of the bottom line — there’s nothing new that they’re putting forward in the grocery space,” Mushkin said. In February 2023, Jassy said Amazon had paused expansion of its Go convenience stores and Fresh grocery stores as it worked to “find the right format that resonates with customers … and where we like the economics.”swapping the Just Walk Out system for Dash carts — smart grocery carts
“All of these are very consistent with how Amazon operates,” said Dan Romanoff, an analyst with Morningstar. “They get an idea in their head and they kind of tinker with it until they get it working. They’re always pulling a bunch of levers and tightening little screws here and there until they’re happy with it.
Amazon has said it isn’t backing away from its Just Walk Out technology and plans to sell it to more than 120 third-party businesses by the end of this year, . Some retailers already leasing the technology, including T-Mobile Park and Climate Pledge Arena, told The Seattle Times that Amazon’s change won’t impact how the technology is used in its venues.
Outside Amazon’s Fresh grocery store in the Central District on a sunny Thursday afternoon, weeks after the company announced changes to its Just Walk Out tech, shoppers said they hadn’t heard or noticed any difference. That’s likely because they didn’t use the technology; seven shoppers who spoke with The Seattle Times said they did not use Just Walk Out technology or Dash carts.
Asked about Just Walk Out, Wei Zheng, who is in her mid-40s and lives in the Mount Baker neighborhood, asked what that was. He was also alarmed by the product placement: Ice cream was next to health care products; frozen pizza was next to baby food; laundry detergent was next to frozen meals.Customers are often looking for three things from a retailer, Mushkin said: Save my time, enhance my time, save my money. Amazon was probably aiming to save shoppers’ time with its Just Walk Out technology, he continued, but “the time being saved was not enough.