Amazon just unveiled a grocery store without lines or checkout counters. Amazon Go, a retail space located in the company’s hometown of Seattle, lets shoppers just grab the items they want and leave; the order gets charged to their Amazon account afterwards.

Amazon Go works by using computer vision and sensors to detect what items you’re taking out of the store. You start by scanning an app as you enter the Amazon Go shop. As you leave, the sensors at the door identifies the items in your cart and charges them to your account as your phone passes back out the door.

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The shop will stock most items you’d find in a local convenience store: snacks, drinks, pre-made food like salads and sandwiches, and grocery essentials like bread and milk. It’ll also sell Blue Apron-like meal kits that let you cook your own dinners for two.

On the consumer level, the benefits are obvious – but for Amazon, the company could potentially track you and your phone as you browse the store to track items you buy. By looking at your movements in the store as you shop, Amazon could analyze items you may have noticed or were potentially interested in buying (i.e. picking something up off a shelf and putting it back down.) Combine this with your Amazon.com browsing activities and the company could gear up to serve even more recommended products wherever you’re online.

The store is currently open in beta to Amazon employees only. A public opening is scheduled for early 2017.

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JaseC said:

I wonder how many people are going to just grab whatever they want and walk out because they associate the lack of a traditional checkout process with free items.

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