Amazon Go stores are getting bigger than ever

(Image credit: Amazon)

Amazon is expanding its reach into the real world with its biggest store launch yet.

The company is set to open Amazon Go Grocery, an expanded version of its cashier-less shopping experience, in Seattle this week as it looks to cement its standing as a successful physical retailer.

The new store will be four times bigger than any existing Amazon Go store, the first of which opened in January 2018, as Amazon looks to stamp its mark on the high street.

Amazon Go Grocery launch

In keeping with the other Amazon Go offerings, the new store will not feature any checkouts or queues to pay for goods. Instead, customers enter the store by scanning a QR code in the Amazon Go app, with anything taken off the shelves automatically added to a virtual shopping cart.

The cost of these items are then deducted from the customer's linked debit or credit card when they leave the store. A network of cameras and weight sensors embedded into the store shelves is able to keep close track on which particular items are being taken, with any returns also being noted if a shopper places an item back on the shelf.

The new store looks to target residential shoppers in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighbourhood, as opposed to the office workers who have made up the bulk of custom at the existing city-centre Amazon Go stores.

Amazon says the range of goods on offer will vary in terms of price and scale, although it's likely that some lines will be shared with Whole Foods, which the online giant bought in 2017. 

“Our goal is to be able to figure out how to be relevant for customers in whichever neighborhood that we’re in. If we do a good job, good things happen. If we don’t, we course-correct,"  Dilip Kumar, Amazon vice president of physical retail and technology, told Reuters.

Via: Reuters

Mike Moore
Deputy Editor, TechRadar Pro

Mike Moore is Deputy Editor at TechRadar Pro. He has worked as a B2B and B2C tech journalist for nearly a decade, including at one of the UK's leading national newspapers and fellow Future title ITProPortal, and when he's not keeping track of all the latest enterprise and workplace trends, can most likely be found watching, following or taking part in some kind of sport.