Amazon is abandoning Just Walk Out technology in its grocery shops

Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

Amazon is phasing out its innovative Just Walk Out technology from its Amazon Fresh grocery shop chain. Instead, the retailer is switching to a more traditional system of scanning and paying for purchases via smart Dash Carts.

Here's What We Know

Just Walk Out technology, first introduced in 2016, used cameras, sensors and machine learning algorithms to automatically track items taken by shoppers. This allowed customers to simply walk out of the shop with their purchases after scanning a QR code upon entering, without having to go through the checkout.

However, the system proved costly and didn't always work flawlessly. According to sources, in 2022, about 700 out of 1,000 purchases required manual verification by contractors from India, which contradicted Amazon's goal of 50 purchases per 1,000.

Currently, only about half of Amazon Fresh shops are equipped with Just Walk Out. Now the company has announced a move to Dash Cart technology - smart carts with scanners and screens for self-checkout as you shop.

Fresh shops will also have self-service counters for non-Amazon customers.

The decision to drop Just Walk Out may be due to Amazon's desire to cut costs and focus on further expansion in food retail, where the company is still well behind market leaders.

Source: Gizmodo