Amazon is considering opening up to 3,000 new cashier-less stores by 2021 to vie for shoppers at convenience stores and quick-service sandwich shops, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.
CEO Jeff Bezos is trying to decide on the best format for this bold and expensive venture, Bloomberg said, quoting people familiar with the matter.
The new AmazonGo outlets could be convenience stores offering freshly prepared foods and some groceries, like 7-Eleven, or just a place to grab a quick bite to eat, one of the sources told Bloomberg.
The company unveiled its first cashier-less store near its headquarters in Seattle in 2016.
Since then it has announced two additional sites in Seattle and one in Chicago, Bloomberg said.
Walmart is trying to compete with Amazon by working on its own Amazon Go-like store, though it's still in the early stages of doing so.
According to Recode, Walmart is developing a cashier-less store that you can walk into, browse goods in, and cash out without having to deal with a cashier or take out your wallet. Does this sound at all familiar? Well, it should, because Amazon announced - exactly one year ago - a Seattle store, called Amazon Go, which doesn't have any registers or cashiers. You simply walk in, pick out what you want, and walk out.
Amazon calls this a "Just Walk Out" shopping experience, and it leverages computer vision technology. When you shop at Amazon Go, you'll never have to wait in line. The store works with the Amazon Go app. With that app, you can enter Amazon Go, then take the products you want, and go. All the items you leave with are automatically billed to your Amazon account. Now, Walmart is considering this same concept.
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