Amazon eyes airports for checkout- free stores

San Francisco, Dec. 5: Amazon. com Inc is looking at bringing its futuristic checkout- free store format to airports in an effort to win business from hungry, time- pressed travelers, according to public records and a person familiar with the strategy.

The move underscores how a company that started as an online bookseller is making forays into brick- and- mortar retail to capture a greater share of shoppers’ spending.

For months, the world’s largest online retailer has been expanding Amazon Go, where customers scan their smartphones at a ■ ■ turnstile to enter, and then cameras identify what they take from the shelves. ■ When shoppers are finished, they simply leave the store and Amazon bills their credit cards on file.

“Yes. Thanks!” the concessions official replied.

A few hundred miles north, in the heart of Silicon Valley, an account manager at Amazon’s cloud unit asked San Jose International Airport for a meeting and referenced Amazon Go, as “one of many possibilities we can discuss.”

After the June meeting took place, during which Amazon discussed how the stores work, an airport information technology manager wrote: “I am looking forward to moving forward with the Amazon Go technology at the airport.” Officials from both airports have since told Reuters they had no further correspondence about Amazon Go and that the retailer would have to undergo a competitive bid process to become a concessionaire, as is typical. The company’s cloud unit, Amazon Web Services, has been in touch with airports for other purposes. The status of the Amazon Go effort is unclear.

An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment.

A person familiar with the strategy confirmed that Amazon is studying how to get the checkoutfree stores into airports and that an employee with experience in business development was assigned to the task.

“Think about how you can expose your brand,” the person familiar with the matter said, on condition of anonymity.

“You’ll be able to broad awareness being in a dozen of best airports.”

More than 350 million passengers boarded flights at the country’s top 12 airports last year, according to U. S. Department of Transportation data. build just the