Amazon is removing Just Walk Out technology from its Fresh Grocery stores in the US

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is removing the Just Walk Out technology from its Amazon Fresh stores as part of an effort to reform the grocery chain.

of the company well-known technology Allows customers to pay for items without standing in line and sends them a receipt later. Amazon says this will now be replaced with smart carts that will allow customers to skip the checkout line but also see their spending in real time.

When redesigning Fresh stores last year, Amazon spokeswoman Carly Golden said the company heard from customers who enjoy skipping the checkout line, but also want to see their receipts and savings while shopping. Golden said smart carts will give customers these benefits as well as the convenience of skipping the checkout line.

Amazon’s decision was first reported by The Information.

Seattle-based Amazon operates dozens of Fresh grocery stores across the country, the majority of which are in California, Illinois. Virginia and Washington state. The company also operates cashier-free convenience stores under the Amazon Go brand and owns Whole Foods, which it purchased for $13.7 billion in 2017.

Despite predictions that Amazon’s entry into the grocery sector would disrupt the market, the company has struggled to figure out what works.

In 2023, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote in his annual letter to shareholders that Amazon was working to find the right formula that would allow it to have a bigger impact on physical grocery. The company has closed some Amazon Fresh and Go stores that were not living up to its promises and said early last year that it was pausing expansion at Fresh stores.

In November, the company reopened three Fresh stores in Los Angeles, California. Golden, an Amazon spokesman, said the company is now focusing on “selectively” opening innovative new stores and remodeling most of its existing stores.

The Just Walk Out technology will continue to be offered in Amazon Go stores and some smaller Amazon Fresh stores in the UK, the company said. It will also continue to offer the technology to third-party retailers.

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