Amazon is selling its cashierless checkout tech to other retailers
The online retail giant says it wants more people to experience "Just Walk Out" shopping.
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Amazon's technology recognizes when a shopper takes something off the shelf and adds it to a virtual cart.
Amazon on Monday said it's now offering its cashierless technology, which it's dubbed Just Walk Out tech, to other retailers. The technology, which the online retail giant uses at its Amazon Go stores, lets shoppers pick up items without having to check out with a cashier.
Amazon set up a website for Just Walk Out that touts a checkout-free shopping experience and offers more details for retailers that might be interested. The company says Just Walk Out, which uses a mix of computer vision, sensors and other technology to detect what products shoppers take from shelves and keep track of them in a virtual cart, can be installed in stores in "as little as a few weeks."
Amazon's technology first appeared in 2016 with the launch of Amazon Go -- a cashierless convenience store selling fast-moving items like snacks, drinks and ready-made meals. Amazon has rolled out more than 20 of these Go stores in metro locations across the US, and last month opened Amazon Go Grocery, a tech-infused 7,700-square-foot store in Seattle that lets shoppers pick up produce and other fresh foods without having to check out with a cashier.
Amazon reportedly has deals with several customers for the technology, though it's unclear what retailers this includes.
While Amazon is touting the technology as fast and convenient for shoppers, critics say it puts jobs at risk.
"This so-called cashierless technology is nothing but a Trojan horse that will let Amazon control and monopolize competing retailers," said Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, in a statement Monday. "Let there be no doubt that Amazon represents a direct threat to 16 million American retail jobs and is part of a ruthless strategy to eliminate as many good jobs as possible."
