Amazon Opens First 'Just Walk Out' Whole Foods Store in D.C.

pcmag.com:

Amazon has brought its Just Walk Out technology to a Whole Foods store in Washington, D.C.

Just Walk Out is a cashierless system that uses a variety of sensors to keep track of every product a potential customer picks up and either puts down or decides to purchase. Amazon said in September 2021 that it would introduce the technology in two stores this year, and now it's available at the Glover Park Whole Foods on Wisconsin Ave. in D.C.

The system is technically a little more involved than just picking things up and walking out with them. Amazon explains that shoppers have to scan a payment method of choice—including a credit card, Amazon One, or the Amazon and Whole Foods apps—when they enter and exit.

That's still faster than going through a checkout line, however, assuming the system is accurate enough that shoppers won't have to navigate Amazon's byzantine customer service to dispute a charge. (Woe unto the person charged for a fancy cheese rather than a few slices of American.) This video shows Just Walk Out in action at Resorts World Las Vegas:

Whole Foods says that Just Walk Out "provides customers the choice to skip the register for a faster, more convenient shopping experience while offering the same high-quality products and exceptional service from Team Members as other Whole Foods Market stores."

Amazon says that a Just Walk Out-compatible Whole Foods is "coming soon" to Los Angeles. In the meantime, Amazon reportedly holds just 2.4% of the grocery market, even though it's spent tens of billions of dollars introducing grocery services and, you know, buying Whole Foods.

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