{"id":3280,"date":"2017-02-02T15:31:10","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T20:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/amazon-go-a-winning-bet-in-the-convenience-store-and-grocery-business\/"},"modified":"2017-02-02T15:33:34","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T20:33:34","slug":"amazon-go-a-winning-bet-in-the-convenience-store-and-grocery-business","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/amazon-go-a-winning-bet-in-the-convenience-store-and-grocery-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon Go \u2013 A Winning Bet in the Convenience Store and Grocery Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Early in December, 20166, Amazon announced its latest foray into the grocery business \u2013 Amazon Go \u2013 which relies on what Amazon calls \u201cthe world\u2019s most advanced shopping technology\u201d to provide a Just Walk Out shopping experience1<\/sup><\/a>. No lines, cashiers, and no credit cards are required at this store. But what makes this technology so advanced, and why have other retailers failed to bring an automated experience to consumers? What has allowed Amazon to Just Walk In to the brick-and-mortar convenience store business and cook up a storm? The answer lies in the company\u2019s amazing ability to bring together existing technologies, from outside and within its own portfolio, and implement disruptive architectures in seemingly boring industries.<\/p>\n

There are no radical or modular innovation elements involved in this \u201cmost advanced technology.\u201d The stores use computer vision, used extensively in military technology, our personal computers, and now self-driving cars, to track customers as they move around in the store. Simple RFID and QR codes allow the store to know which customer has walked into the store and which items are being picked up from the shelves. Amazon applies its existing deep learning capability to improve the accuracy of its inventory tracking2<\/sup><\/a>. Let\u2019s say if the RIFD sensors cannot tell whether you had picked up turkey or salami, then the store will draw on tiny amounts of computing capacity on the AWS infrastructure to analyze your purchase history and determine what you may have picked up from the shelves. The plethora of sensors across the store can then tell that you are walking towards the exit. As you pass through a \u201ctransition zone\u201d computers add up your purchases and charge you through a pre-existing mobile payment platform2<\/sup><\/a>. No new technologies, but a beautifully orchestrated symphony between sensors and deep learning algorithms.<\/p>\n