Amazon Fresh to Replace ‘Just Walk Out’ With Smart Carts

As it redesigns its Amazon Fresh stores, Amazon is removing its Just Walk Out technology.

That technology will be replaced by the company’s smart shopping cart, the Amazon Dash Cart, Jessica Martin, Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement emailed to PYMNTS Tuesday (April 2).

The company has redesigned a number of Amazon Fresh stores over the last year and has seen positive results in terms of higher customer shopping satisfaction scores and increased purchasing, Martin said.

“We’ve also heard from customers that while they enjoyed the benefit of skipping the checkout line with Just Walk Out, they also wanted the ability to easily find nearby products and deals, view their receipt as they shop, and know how much money they saved while shopping throughout the store,” Martin said in the statement.

“To deliver even more convenience to our customers, we’re rolling out Amazon Dash Cart, our smart shopping carts, which allows customers all these benefits including skipping the checkout line,” Martin added.

Just Walk Out is autonomous checkout technology that allows consumers to fill their cart and skip the checkout line when done shopping. It uses a combination of computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning to power this frictionless checkout technology.

Just Walk Out continues to be offered in Amazon Go stores, smaller format Amazon Fresh stores in the United Kingdom, and a growing number of third-party retailers.

With the Amazon Dash Cart, customers scan the QR code on their Amazon.com app; scan items with one of the Dash Cart cameras as they place them in the cart; and, when finished shopping, skip the checkout by exiting the store through a special Dash Cart lane.

While redesigning the Amazon Fresh stores, the company is also installing self-checkout and continuing to offer assisted checkout as an option as well, so customers can choose the method that works best for them.

Just Walk Out technology did not appeal to all shoppers, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Some shoppers objected to the system’s entry gates, the feeling that the technology made the store a “high-tech vending machine” or the fact that it could take minutes to hours for the shopper to receive a receipt after their visit, according to the report.