We Pay a Visit to Amazon Go

Episode 61

We fulfill a promise to our listeners and provide an in-depth review of Amazon Go - including food, assortment, experience, and how the technology will be applied and extended into the future.

Show Notes

Main Takeaways

Brian and Phillip take a trip to flagship Amazon Go Store in Seattle and enjoy the experience.
How is an Amazon Go location set up, and what are some of the logistics in its day to day operations?
Can the Amazon Go model be applied to other retailers?
Shipping With Amazon might be Amazon's most significant business venture to date.

Is Amazon Go the Future?

Phillip says yes, and that future is now.
Amazon Go is basically a grocery store that allows you to pick up any item and that item is automatically tagged, added to your cart, and is then charged to your Amazon Prime account upon leaving (as long as you have the app)).
Phillip and Brian were excited about Amazon Go over a year ago.

Did the Experience Live Up to the Hype?

Brian and Phillip ventured to an Amazon Go location together to see what the experience was actually like.
Brian says the Amazon Go experience was "good, easy, and exactly what it was advertised to be."
Brian also experimented with picking items up and then putting them back on the shelf.
Phillip says that he loved the experience.

Amazon Go: The Set Up:

Phillip and Brian agree that the store is not huge, but more akin to a convenience store (Or a "Whole Foods) convenient store" according to Brian).
Phillip describes the products as "a really wide selection of a lot of things with unique selections in between" and goes into some serious detail of all the food items that are for sale.
There was also a good selection of high-end items.
How does the set-up contribute to the overall experience?
Phillip points out that some of the sensors that track customer activity looked more commercial as opposed to industrial.
What kinds of sensors are being used to detect what products are removed from the shelves?

Amazon Go: The Haul:

Since it was breakfast time, Brian walked out with a sandwich from a locally sourced bakery that was pretty good (for a convenience store breakfast sandwich).
Phillip also left with a breakfast sandwich.
Both Brian and Phillip agree that there were some pretty good, higher-end selections to be found.
In addition to free cream cheese for bagel purchases, there was also free Cholula Hot Sauce and Sriracha packages. Bless.
Alert: there was no hot coffee to be found anywhere in the store. (Unless Brian and Phillip couldn't find it.)
For the products that were of the local variety (as in not pre-packed or mass produced), Phillip points out that there were unique QR codes that must help the sensors identify these items.

The Logistics and the Competitive Landscape:

Brian questions what the minimum number of staff would be to run a store like this, given the unique new factors this retail set up introduces.
Will Amazon release any numbers detailing what it costs to staff

Published on 7 years, 9 months ago

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