Amazon mulls opening up to 3,000 cashier less stores
Amazon.com Inc. is considering a plan to open as many as 3,000 new Amazon Go cashier less stores in the next few years, according to people familiar with matter, an aggressive and costly expansion that would threaten convenience chains like 7-Eleven Inc., quickservice sandwich shops like Subway and Panera Bread, and momand-pop pizzerias and taco trucks.
Chief executive Jeff Bezos sees eliminating mealtime logjams in busy cities as the best way for Amazon to reinvent the brick-and-mo r- tar shopping experience, where most spending still occurs. But he’s still experimenting with the best format: a convenience store that sells fresh prepared foods as well as a limited grocery selection similar to 7-Eleven franchises, or a place to simply pick up a quick bite to eat for people in a rush, similar to the U.K.-based chain Pret a Manger, one of the people said.
An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment. The company unveiled its first cashier less store near its headquarters in Seattle in 2016 and has since announced two additional sites in Seattle and one in Chicago. Two of the new stores offer only a limited selection of salads, sandwiches and snacks, showing that Amazon is experimenting with the concept simply as a meal-on-the-run option. Two other stores, including the original Amazon Go, also have as malls elec- tion of groceries, making it more akin to a convenience store.
Shoppers use a smartphone app to enter the store. Once they scan their phones at a turnstile, they can grab what they want from a range of salads, sandwiches, drinks and snacks — and then walkout without stopping at a cash register. Sensors and computer-vision technology detect what shoppers take and bills them automatically, eliminating checkout lines.
The challenge to Amazon’s plan is the high cost of opening each location. The original Amazon Go in downtown Seattle required more than US$1 million in hardware alone.