Users with the Amazon Go app on their phones simply check into a store equipped for the system, put their phones away, shop to their hearts' content, then leave when they're finished. No waiting to pay.
As each item is picked up and held (or stored in a bag) by the shopper, the price is automatically added to the shopper's Amazon account and is deducted from the user's bank account when he or she leaves the store. The store gets the same info plus a copy of the item's SKU number for inventory management and accounting purposes.
Whilst this will cut cost and no doubt increase their sales, the real impact of this lateral leap by Amazon Go will be felt at supermarket checkouts…
In other words, whilst traditional stores have laboured for years at speeding up the process, encouraging self-scanning, and in effect making the same hole deeper as in traditional thinking, Amazon have eliminated the process in a move that will of necessity be copied by the multiples, or for speed, will be leased from Amazon…
