In early 2018, Amazon.com opened its first fully automated convenience store in downtown Seattle. The company had had success with this type of store during 2017, experimenting with only the company's employees. Shoppers enter the store, pick up products, and go home. Their accounts are charged later on. Sounds great! No more waiting in line for the packing of your goods and paying for them - no cashiers, no hassle. In some sense, shoppers are going through a process similar to what they do online-find desired products/services, buy them, and wait for the monthly electronic charge.
The Shopping Process To participate, you need a special free app on your smartphone. You need to connect it to your regular Amazon.com account. Here is what you do next:
1. Open your app.
2. Wave your smartphone at a gate to the store. It will work with a QR code there.
3. Enter the store.
4. Start shopping. All products are prepacked. You put them in a shopping bag (yours or one borrowed at the store). The minute you pick an item from the shelf, it is recorded in a virtual shopping cart. This activity is done by sensors/cameras. Your account is debited. If you change your mind, and return an item, the system will credit your account instantly. The sensors also track your movements in the store. The sensors are of RFID type.
5. Finished shopping? Just leave the store (make sure your app is open for the gate to let you leave). The system knows that you have left and what products you took, and your shopping trip is finished. The system will total your cost, which you can check anytime on your smartphone.

Questions for Case

1. Watch the video. What did you like in it, and what did you dislike?

2. Compare the process described here to a self check available today in many supermarkets and “big box” stores (Home Depot, etc.).

3. The store was opened in downtown Seattle. Why was the downtown location selected?

4. What are the benefits to customers? To Amazon?

5. Will customers be ready to trade privacy for convenience? Discuss.