Amazon Pulls Plug on Cashierless System in US Grocery Stores

(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. is removing its cashierless Just Walk Out technology from grocery stores, a retreat from an ambitious system designed to let shoppers skip the line.
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Amazon will remove the system as it remodels existing Fresh grocery stores and won’t feature it in new locations that will start opening later this year, an Amazon spokesperson said.
Tony Hoggett, Amazon’s senior vice president of grocery stores, joined the company in 2022 and launched a far-reaching revamp of the company’s grocery business, which has struggled to build market share in an industry dominated by the likes of Walmart Inc. and Kroger Co.
Amazon has also scaled back its ambitions for the Dash Cart, which let shoppers scan items as they go. The carts initially relied on cameras to identify what shoppers had grabbed from the shelf. Now they mostly identify items with a traditional scanner, although shoppers can still use a touchscreen to ring up merchandise without bar codes.
The Information reported the scrapping of Just Walk Out technology earlier.
The system used ceiling-mounted cameras and shelf sensors, backed by algorithms, to determine what a shopper took from a store. Customers were charged automatically upon exiting.
The company began developing the technology more than a decade ago, part of a push by Jeff Bezos, then chief executive officer, to develop a unique offering to accompany Amazon’s move into physical stores.
The system debuted in 2018 with the opening of a convenience store in the lobby of Amazon’s Seattle headquarters. The company built dozens of Amazon Go branded convenience stores and later installed the cashierless technology in Fresh Stores and a pair of Whole Foods Market locations.