Amazon tests cashierless tech in bigger stores with eye on Whole Foods

An Amazon Go
store.
Getty/Stephen
Brashear

• Amazon is testing out its cashierless technology in
  bigger stores, The Wall Street Journal reports.
• Amazon’s cashierless checkout tech tracks the items
  that shoppers take from shelves and charges them
  automatically.
• The Journal reports Amazon could roll the tech out to
  Whole Foods.

Amazon is testing out its cashierless checkout technology in
bigger stores — with one eye on Whole Foods, according to The Wall Street
Journal.

Sources told the Journal that Amazon is testing out the
futuristic tech — which tracks and charges for the items shoppers
take from the shelves — in Seattle, in a space formatted like a
large store.

Amazon’s cashierless tech is already in use in brick-and-mortar
Amazon Go stores in Seattle, Chicago, and San Francisco. It is reportedly considering
opening 3,000 such stores across America. 

Read more:

Amazon reportedly wants to open up to 3,000 cashierless stores to
become one of the largest convenience chains in America

One source told the Journal that the tech struggles in bigger
stores with higher ceilings and more items. Consequently, it
could take a while to get it right, the source added.

Those familiar with the matter also speculated that the most
likely application for the larger-scale cashierless tech would be
in Whole Foods,
which Amazon acquired in 2017.

Amazon and Whole Foods declined to comment when contacted by the
Journal. Business Insider contacted Amazon and Whole Foods for
comment.

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