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“Just walk out” technology by Amazon

justwalkout.com

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Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#711

Post by dokem »

amelius wrote: post #694
inkaudio wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are number of tech companies directly competing in this space: https://standard.ai/ https://grabango.com/ https://www.getzippin.com/ https://www.v7labs.com/retail https://www.getzippin.com/ There are competitive options, if you’re in retail you do not have to give Amazon all your “retail data” or use their tech.

What are the false-positive/negative rates of this technology? What if I grab two items with one hand, and then put one back? Will the system correctly track this?

I think there is an argument to be made of an acceptable increase in false negatives as the cost can be recouped through the efficiency of the system. Not to mention that a system like this should also cut down on theft.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#712

Post by airstrike »

thunderrabbit wrote: post #690
hunter2_ wrote: post #648

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The third-last FAQ entry speaks precisely to your comment: > Will people still be working in stores with Just Walk Out technology? > Yes. Retailers will still employ store associates to greet and answer shoppers' questions, stock the shelves, check IDs for the purchasing of certain goods, and more - their roles have simply shifted to focus on more valuable activities.

I wonder what percentage of people will still have a job there?

1/n where n is the current number of cashiers in a given store

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#713

Post by airstrike »

mkolodny wrote: post #610
derefr wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surprising to me that Whole Foods still doesn't have this tech integrated. You'd think that'd be the "beta" step after the Amazon Store's "alpha" step.

Maybe they don't want to draw attention to how many people are going to lose their jobs because of this yet. Cashier is the #2 job in the US (by number of people employed) [0]. If they released this at Whole Foods, I'd guess they'd fire all the cashiers there. That would make this rollout a lot less exciting for a lot of people. I hope Amazon comes up with an awesome way to help the cashiers this technology replaces.…

> I hope Amazon comes up with an awesome way to help the cashiers this technology replaces.

I'm not sure why this should be on Amazon. It's on all of us to better train people to have the jobs of the future. Our education system hasn't really changed in 100+ years. It needs to.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#714

Post by JohnFen »

Zimahl wrote: post #300
Hnrobert42 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, something that tracks you based on appearance, and can later do so outside stores, is very different from a keychain fob that you can register with 555-867-5309. I, for one, won’t ever go in an Amazon Go store. If other stores implement this tech without an opt-out, I will either start shopping in a ski mask or go without.

> 555-867-5309 Just FYI, the local area code and Jenny's number (867-5309) is a default that exists for most loyalty programs. So if you don't want to be tracked you can use that. I've heard that this was implemented for military folks who tend to be a lot more transient than regular locals.

> So if you don't want to be tracked you can use that.

Or just not use anything at all. Or do what I do, and prefer shopping at stores that don't have a loyalty program. In my area, stores that have loyalty programs also have higher prices so that the "discount" from the loyalty card makes the price roughly the same as at similar stores that don't have a loyalty program.

So I go to the stores that don't have one. That's not only better for privacy, but is more frictionless and comes with no price penalty.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#715

Post by discreditable »

radicalriddler wrote: post #540
tzs wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone else had registered the name at GoDaddy before Amazon wanted it (it was registered in 2013), and then Amazon bought it from them, would Amazon transfer it to their normal registrar right away or let it stay where it is until it is time to renew?

I doubt Amazon would care about transfer fees, but having used Godaddy, they would've been hard to play with.

Some registrars don't allow you to transfer the domain away from them for a period of time after transferring ownership. If they acquired the domain recently that could be the reason.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#716

Post by spookthesunset »

notatoad wrote: post #466
awb wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And why is this a standalone site and not inside the Amazon.com portfolio? EDIT: JustWalkout.com was registered anonymously at GoDaddy 7 years ago: https://www.whois.com/whois/justwalkout.com Amazon.com has public DNS contact info: https://www.whois.com/whois/amazon.com There's no TM or R marks around the term "Just Walk Out" on the page and no Favicon. Are we sure this is real?

Huh, that actually looks kinda suspicious. Reuters has an article up [1] quoting an amazon VP about the launch, so it seems like the info is legit. But i don't see any link to this justwalkout.com from anywhere on amazon.com, justwalkout doesn't pull in any content hosted on amazon.com, the reuters article doesn't reference it, and all the other tech blogs talking about this seem to just be referencing the reuters ar…

If it wasn't legit, amazon would have already released a statement denying it. You'd then be reading about it here...

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#717

Post by JohnFen »

panarky wrote: post #707
mkolodny wrote: post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they don't want to draw attention to how many people are going to lose their jobs because of this yet. Cashier is the #2 job in the US (by number of people employed) [0]. If they released this at Whole Foods, I'd guess they'd fire all the cashiers there. That would make this rollout a lot less exciting for a lot of people. I hope Amazon comes up with an awesome way to help the cashiers this technology replaces.…

Amazon Go stores have plenty of employees, I'd bet they're not saving anything on labor. The benefit is a much better customer experience, not labor savings.

> The benefit is a much better customer experience, not labor savings.

The primary benefit is access to a lot better data about shoppers, not a better customer experience.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#718

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

m463 wrote: post #577
tmilard wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, IBM "thinks" the future. Other companies build them. Conclusion : ideas are worthless, Execution is key

AT&T had advertisements that said "You Will"... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Will I was always confused as to why they'd spend money on vaporware advertising, since I don't think they were responsible for doing any of the things.

"Branding"

I get why they spent money on vaporware advertising.

But I don't get why there's no modern equivalent. No one seems to be making equivalent statements about technology that's 20-30 years away from today.

There are vague hints that AI and QC will somehow be awesome, but they're very light on specifics.

It's interesting how we got from the forward-looking 90s to the backward-looking 20s.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#719

Post by billmalarky »

panarky wrote: post #707
mkolodny wrote: post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they don't want to draw attention to how many people are going to lose their jobs because of this yet. Cashier is the #2 job in the US (by number of people employed) [0]. If they released this at Whole Foods, I'd guess they'd fire all the cashiers there. That would make this rollout a lot less exciting for a lot of people. I hope Amazon comes up with an awesome way to help the cashiers this technology replaces.…

Amazon Go stores have plenty of employees, I'd bet they're not saving anything on labor. The benefit is a much better customer experience, not labor savings.

Well, it's the option.

Retailers that compete on "experience" like Target etc will reinvest into a better customer experience.

Retailers that compete on price like Aldis will focus solely on driving cost down.

Re: “Just walk out” technology by Amazon

#720

Post by JohnFen »

chuniverse wrote: post #632
eyegor wrote: post #608

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have this experience every time I buy something. Monitor? Needs more monitors. Yoga mats? Clearly opening a studio. Trash bags? This man hasn't learned about dumpsters. Of course this pays off eventually, but it seems like they could come up with a better strategy when they have a bunch of purchase history.

Nope. The fact is after you purchase something you are still in market for that product. So keeping you in a marketing segment will always be more profitable to the advertising team. Yes, you might be finished shopping now that you have finally decided on the best toilet seat, but the marketing segment that you fall into will always convert higher than a control group. There is just way too much data to confirm this.

And this is one of the hundreds of things that are very, very wrong with marketing these days.
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