Amazon is adding a new wrinkle to “Just Walk Out,” combining its cashierless retail technology with RFID capability so that the quicker checkout experience can be offered on expanded selection of clothing and related merchandise.
Amazon’s Just Walk Out tech has traditionally been used in stores offering products such as food, beverages, groceries and home goods. The tech, which debuted in Amazon Go convenience stores in 2018, relies on cameras, shelf sensors, sensor fusion and computer vision to track what customers pick up.
With RFID (radio-frequency identification), unpackaged products such as clothing on hangers, hats and other soft goods can be purchased in stores using Just Walk Out. Each item for sale in such a store would have a unique RFID tag, which looks similar to a standard apparel tag.
Customers enter the store, shop for, handle and try on what they like, and then leave through an exit gate by using their credit or debit card, or hovering their hand over an Amazon One palm-scanning device. When they pass through the gate, the RFID tags are read by readers, and the credit card or Amazon One information will be charged.
“RFID technology has been around for decades and is typically used by stores to track and manage inventory. Given its prevalence in retail supply chains, we decided to figure out a way RFID could benefit customers in a checkout-free environment,” Jon Jenkins, vice president of Just Walk Out technology, AWS Applications, said in a blog post Tuesday.
The new combination of technology is already being used by the Seattle Seahawks in a Pro Shop Outlet location at Lumen Field. It was first piloted at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena near the end of the Seattle Kraken’s most recent NHL season.
To enable the new capability for Just Walk Out, Amazon worked with Avery Dennison, a provider of RFID sensor and digital identification solutions for the retail industry.
More than 70 Amazon-owned stores and more than 85 third-party retailers currently use Just Walk Out tech across the U.S., U.K., and Australia. These experiences include grocery stores, airport travel retailers, music and sports venues, theme parks, and shops and cafes on college campuses.
