NEW YORK — Earlier this year, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market determined Just Walk Out frictionless checkout technology was not the best fit for grocery stores. Parent company Amazon has since focused on rolling out the technology to smaller, quick-trip formats such as airport stores and stadium shops.
Now that Whole Foods has its small-format Daily Shop, which is geared towards fill-in shopping trips, up and running, will Just Walk Out make a reappearance?
Whole Foods says no — at least for now.
Two stores where the grocer piloted Just Walk Out became “very restricted” when using the tech, Christina Minardi, executive vice president of growth and development for Whole Foods and Amazon, said during a store tour ahead of the opening day of the first Daily Shop, noting that it isn’t suitable for a retail space that frequently changes and rotates displays.
Many parts of Daily Shop stores are designed to move, including large display cases, allowing workers to adjust the store’s layout based on customer flow and rotating product displays.
“So if you have a bin of tomatoes and you want to, all of a sudden, just build some mozzarella on an ice bin, and you can’t [because] all that has to be mapped … to the cameras. And it takes weeks,” Minardi said. She added that this is where the technology also became “cumbersome” in the two full-format Whole Foods stores that had the technology.
Minardi said that as Amazon continues to evolve its Just Walk Out technology, it’s possible that Whole Foods might add the tech but that right now it is too restrictive for a retail environment that’s frequently changing.
Shortly after Amazon said it was pulling back on the automated tech in its Amazon Fresh stores, Whole Foods confirmed in early April its plans to remove Amazon’s Just Walk Out checkout system from the two stores that offered it.
The pair of Whole Foods stores now rely on self-checkout and traditional registers to offer a more “consistent shopping experience across Whole Foods Market locations,” a spokesperson said in a statement at the time.
The grocery chain has kept the Amazon One service, which allows people to pay with their palms, at all of its U.S. stores. The Daily Shop format will also equip Amazon One, Minardi said.
Just Walk Out is currently used in Amazon Go locations, according to Minardi. This summer, Amazon rolled out an advanced AI model for Just Walk Out that makes the technology faster, more accurate and less expensive to implement.
Amazon is also focused on rolling out Just Walk Out to university campuses, stadiums, airports, amusement parks and other fast-paced retail settings.
Clarification: This piece was updated to reflect Whole Foods' experience and plans with Just Walk Out technology.
