Grab-and-go shopping

Amazon’s super-smart stores are the closest thing to legal shoplifting

1 Gaining entry

To begin shopping, scan the Amazon Go app on your phone at one of the entrance’s turnstiles. A sensor will read your app’s unique QR code.

2 Smart surveillance

Hundreds of cameras – including regular RGB lenses, as well as depthsensing cameras – monitor customers’ movements using computer vision.

3 No-pressure shopping

Pressure plates on shelves help the store’s computer system track when you have picked up an item or put it back.

4 Next-gen barcodes

Some products, in particular fresh sandwiches and salads, are labelled with dotted codes that help the cameras identify them.

5 No checkout queues

Once you’ve finished shopping you simply walk out the store – you don’t even have to scan the app again before you leave.

6 Pay on the Go

Once you leave the shop your bank account will be charged and an electronic receipt will be sent to your Amazon Go app.

7 Wide selection

In addition to selling popular brands, the store stocks some exclusive own-brand items, including Amazon Meal Kits.

8 Not entirely automated

While there are no cashiers, people are still employed to stack the shelves and prepare fresh food.

9 Shop with friends

A shopper can bring up to two guests with them by scanning to let them in first, but the shopper will be charged if these guests take anything.

10 Crowd control

The roughly 167m2 Seattle store can accommodate around 90 shoppers at one time. This cap is due to fire safety rather than limitations of the store’s tracking technologies.

“Hundreds of cameras monitor the store from every angle”