AmazonGo: This Changes (Almost) Everything
AmazonGo is nothing less than a game changer. Not because of the reduction of friction at the checkout. That is awesome and one of the reasons consumers will try it, sign in to the app (see Uber) and come back. It’s sort of a red herring.
The game changing and far reaching implications are in this statement: “computer vision, deep learning algorithms and sensor fusion.” This is not one functional technology, it is a combination working in concert to get Amazon what they want: more data on physical spending behavior. Information they don’t have about us.
Think about the possibilities of physical stores being as aware as websites. That web-like data is enormously valuable and Amazon is far ahead of the game.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking this is subject to the rules of retail as we know it and don’t think for a minute that this isn’t going to be rolled out. The logistics, margins and operational issues will all be worked out and when they strike on the the right combination of product, location and tech, you’ll see these scale fast and show up in all the right places.
Then Amazon can really start honing the offer to the store and its customers and wallow in all the data that goes along with it.
Fasten your seat belts.
See the entire RetailWire Braintrust discussion here: http://www.retailwire.com/discussion/will-the-tech-behind-amazon-go-redefine-convenience-at-retail/#comment-118586
