Amazon Pulls Plug on Decade-Long Dream of the Tech-Powered Grocery Store

Today, Amazon announced it had finally given up on the tech-forward grocery store vision it first unveiled nearly a decade ago.

In a press release, the company said it would close its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical stores. The announcement marks the end of an initiative that began with lofty ambitions. After launching its first store, Amazon said it planned to open as many as 2,000 locations nationwide and experiment with up to three different store formats.

When the first Amazon Go opened in downtown Seattle in October 2016, the idea felt genuinely futuristic. A grocery store where you could walk in, grab a sandwich and a gallon of milk, and walk out without ever talking to a cashier or pulling out your wallet seemed pretty cool. From a technology perspective, the computer vision systems and AI that powered the experience were impressive for the time.

Impressive or not, the concept never really gained traction with consumers. Part of the problem was that, in practice, shopping at an Amazon Go always felt a little strange. Walking out without ever paying felt like you were doing something wrong, even when you knew you were not.

I do think consumers want less friction and appreciate not having to wait in line. But in retrospect, it is fair to ask whether we were ever in such a hurry that we could not tolerate a simple self-checkout flow using computer vision and tap-to-pay.

I do not think we were then, and I do not think we are now. Today, computer vision in retail is growing, but the formats gaining traction look very different. Instead of fully eliminating checkout, the winning models are essentially better versions of self-checkout. Systems like Mashgin, along with smart cart vendors such as Shopic and Caper, are finding real adoption by speeding things up without making the experience feel unnatural.

Amazon, for its part, will continue to invest in Whole Foods. The company said today that it plans to open another 100 locations. My guess is that Amazon will be more restrained with high-tech checkout experiments there. The cultural fit between Whole Foods and dense arrays of cameras and people-recognition technology has always felt a bit off.

The bottom line is this: Amazon’s retreat from physical retail, outside of Whole Foods, which was an acquisition rather than an internally built concept, is largely complete. Amazon Books, Amazon Go, Amazon Fresh, Amazon Style. All going, or already gone.

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