Amazon Just Walk Out tested

I recently used Amazon’s Just Walk Out at one of its small stores in the UK and was impressed with the cashierless and paypointless checkout system.

Initially launched at Amazon Go stores in the US in 2018, the intention of Just Walk Out was to help customers avoid having to wait in long queues while shopping.

The system links a shopper to a virtual shopping cart and uses a combination of computer vision, deep-learning algorithms, and sensory fusion technologies to determine what items they took and left the store with.

Amazon said this technology can detect when a shopper’s hand interacted with a product on the shelf and when they left the store.

“When that happens, machine learning algorithms make sure the correct item is added to the shopper’s virtual cart — all without any specific knowledge about the person,” Amazon said.

“When a shopper enters a store, the technology simply links them with their payment method and assigns a temporary numeric code, which serves as the shopper’s unique digital signature for that shopping trip.”

I visited two small-format Amazon Fresh stores in the UK with Just Walk Out support.

Each offered a wide range of food and popular household goods, typical to what you would find at a small Spar or large fuel station forecourt store in South Africa.

On my first visit to a store in Richmond, I used a regular self-checkout to scan and pay for my products.

After a bit of Googling, I decided to use Just Walk Out during my second trip to an Amazon Fresh in Euston.

To use Just Walk Out, I required the regular Amazon mobile app with a linked payment method like a bank card.

Upon entry, a helpful employee at the Euston store explained that I must first generate a unique in-store code on the Amazon app.

After scanning a QR code near the store’s entrance with my regular camera app, my Amazon app opened, and I was presented with the in-store code.

I showed this to a scanner at a small entry gate, after which I could proceed into the store. I quickly grabbed a can of Coca-Cola from a drinks fridge and exited the store as I was on the way to another appointment.

Within a minute of exiting the shop, the Amazon app notified me that the receipt for my purchase was being finalised.

About 13 minutes later, the £1 (R24.53) charge for my basket was deducted from my credit card linked to the Amazon app.

The receipt on the app was accurate and showed that I had only bought a can of Coke and spent 1 minute and 8 seconds in the store.

Below is a summary of the timeline of my Amazon Fresh visit and payment via Just Walk Out:

• 15:26 — Entered store
• 15:27 — Exited store with a can of Coke
• 15:28 — Received message that receipt was being prepared
• 15:40 — Payment processed and receipt available on Amazon app

Controversy surrounding remote monitoring

Amazon has been criticised for using humans to monitor Just Walk Out remotely to verify purchases.

The company has alleged its roughly 1,000 Indian “associates” working on the system were only responsible for improving AI-generated data through labelling and annotation.

“Associates don’t watch live video of shoppers to generate receipts — that’s taken care of automatically by the computer vision algorithms,” Amazon stated.

“This is no different than any other AI system that places a high value on accuracy, where human reviewers are common.”

Nevertheless, using 1,000 people to monitor a system used in a few hundred stores while still requiring in-store employees doesn’t seem highly cost-efficient.

Just Walk Out expanding in third-party stores

Amazon is scaling down Just Walk Out at its larger grocery stores, where it will fully replace the system with its smart shopping carts. This option will also be expanded to smaller Fresh stores.

According to Amazon, the Dashcart has built-in cameras and weight sensors that automatically detect what customers have put in their carts.

However, people with hands-on experience say the cart requires customers to scan their products’ barcodes manually.

That is similar to what they would do with self-checkout at numerous UK stores like Tesco or Sainsbury’s.

The only difference is that product barcodes are scanned as the customer shops instead of at the end, which could save some time.

The Dashcart also comes with an onboard screen with maps and navigation, shopping promotions, and real-time tracking of the customer’s bill.

To complete their purchase, customers simply have to walk out with the cart.

Till-less checkouts yet to launch in South Africa

Amazon has maintained that it believes Just Walk Out remains the best method for small-format stores.

The company said it had sold over 18 million items from Just Walk Out stores and is expanding the system to 240 third-party stores in 2024.

In South Africa, only one grocery retailer — Shoprite Checkers — has trialled till-less walkout technology. Self-checkout technology is non-existent.

Shoprite’s digital business unit ShopriteX launched a Checkers Rush concept store at the unit’s offices in Cape Town in August 2021.

While it is unclear whether it uses Amazon’s technology, the Checkers Rush store’s enrollment and checkout works exactly the same as Just Walk Out.

ShopriteX staff are required to scan a code via the Checkers Rush app upon entering the store, and their items are also billed against a card linked to the app after exiting.

Below are more photos of the Amazon Fresh stores MyBroadband visited in the UK in June 2024.