For the first time, consumers could scan their phones to get into the store (just like they would to get on an airplane), take whatever they wanted off of the shelves, walk out, and pay electronically, similar to how one would pay for an Uber UBER or a Lyft LYFT. In January 2018, Amazon debuted Amazon Go in Seattle. The early experiments of how this technology could work at scale, therefore, likely began in Amazon’s bookstores.įor additional context, the only other retailer that has even publicly talked about using a similar technology at scale over this same period of time and in the same manner is Sam’s Club, and that is in one lab store, Sam’s Club Now, down in Texas.Įver since it opened its first bookstore, Amazon has continued to make its computer vision AI technology even more powerful. It is essentially the same core technology that underlies Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” shopping platform. The technology recognizes products in space and, once identified, serves items up for purchase within Amazon’s app.

It is the very same camera search technology everyone can use at home on their Amazon mobile apps today.

In the early days of these bookstores, consumers could shop for books with Amazon’s visual search technology.

Amazon fresh store