Amazon Expands ‘Just Walk Out’ as Shoppers’ Checkout Expectations Rise

Amazon is bringing “Just Walk Out” to third-party grocers as shoppers seek better payment experiences.

The eCommerce giant announced Monday (Dec. 5) via an emailed press release that it is bringing the technology to its first non-Amazon-owned United States grocer, Community Groceries in Kansas City, Missouri, suggesting that an increasing number of grocery retailers are becoming interested in next-gen checkout systems.

“We are thrilled to work with Community Groceries to unlock a fast and frictionless experience for their shoppers in Kansas City — one we believe they’ll enjoy very much,” Dilip Kumar, vice president of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Applications, said in a statement. “We’re honored to have them as our first customer in the grocery vertical to launch a Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One-enabled store.”

The announcement follows more than a year after Amazon’s first third-party grocery partnership across the Atlantic with Sainsbury’s in the United Kingdom.

Many consumers expect their grocers to evolve to meet their payment expectations. Research from “Decoding Customer Affinity: The Customer Loyalty to Merchants Survey 2022,” a PYMNTS and Toshiba collaboration, found that around one-third of the 2,000 grocery shoppers surveyed see the ability to choose their favorite payment options as an important variable impacting their loyalty to merchants.

Get the study: Decoding Customer Affinity: The Customer Loyalty to Merchants Survey 2022

Of course, it is not only grocery shoppers looking for more seamless checkout options. This partnership comes as part of a broader push from Amazon to drive B2B adoption across different sectors.

“As part of AWS, you are by definition exposed to a wide range of clients,” Kumar said, according to a Reuters report Thursday (Dec. 1). “There would be no reason for me to talk to a hospital if I was entirely, predominantly focused on convenience and grocery.”

The company is already expanding the technology to nontraditional venues, developing a presence in sporting arenas. Last week, the Seattle Seahawks’ Lumen Field announced via Twitter the addition of three more Just Walk Out concessions shops.

Of course, Amazon is not alone in the race to provide the most frictionless checkout experiences. One competitor, Trigo, announced in October that it had raised $100 million, intending to use the capital to take on rivals that are seeing mixed uptake in the cashierless category.

The tech company, which has worked with major grocers including Tesco, Aldi and Wakefern, plans to use the money to expand geographically and build out its StoreOS software for inventory tracking, store management and data collection.

Indeed, providing a satisfactory checkout experience can be key to maintaining shopper loyalty.

“The frustrations that may mount during an unsatisfactory in-store shopping journey can make any [other] improvements irrelevant,” noted PYMNTS’ recent study “Navigating Big Retail’s Digital Shift: The New Payments Strategy Evolution,” created in collaboration with ACI Worldwide. “Ensure that checkouts are friction-free by consistently testing in-store shopping tools, such as self-service inventory checks or apps, for technical issues or unnecessary complexity.”

Read the report: Navigating Big Retail’s Digital Shift: The New Payments Strategy Evolution