Amazon Brings 'Just Walk Out' Shopping to a Baseball Stadium

pcmag.com:

Amazon and Major League Baseball teamed up to open its first cashierless stores at the Houston Astros' Minute Maid Park.

Thanks to Amazon's Just Walk Out technology, supplementing your hot dog and beer with a selection of snacks, drinks, and souvenirs from the grab-and-go 19th Hole and Market shops can be done without needing to stop and pay on your way out.

To take advantage of the cashierless option, simply insert a credit or debit card linked to your Amazon account at the entry gates to either store. Once inside, anything you take off the shelf is automatically added to a virtual cart, and anything you put back on the shelf is automatically removed. Leaving the store will trigger payment to be taken without holding you up on your way back to the game.

So why did the Astros decide to do this? According to Marcel Braithwaite, Senior Vice President, Business Operations for the Astros, "We wanted to provide this state-of-the-art technology to our fans, giving them a more streamlined and convenient shopping experience so they can spend more time enjoying baseball."

The 19th Hole store is located on the Concourse level behind Section 156, while the Market can be found on the Honda Club level behind Section 211. Stadium employees will act as greeters and provide in-store assistance when necessary; guests purchasing alcohol will be required to show their ID to a shop attendant for age verification.

"We're thrilled to help eliminate checkout lines for fans when they need to refuel during games and between innings," Dilip Kumar, VP of physical retail and technology at Amazon, said in a statement. Now, if only they can come up with a way to shorten the wait for the bathroom.

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