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Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

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Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#241

Post by pas »

CydeWeys wrote: post #183
zxcvbn4038 wrote: post #92

I used to visit one of the NYC the Go stores daily until covid happened. It was cute and surgically clean, worked wonderfully, and their inventory management was much better then CVS and Duane Reade which often sell out of things and have empty shelves for days. But nobody ever went there - no matter what time of the day I went, there would be one person doing inventory and stocking, two people standing by to help pe…

Isn't the whole point of Amazon generally, and these stores specifically in not having staff, that it's supposed to be cheaper? I think you've pinpointed the reason it failed, but I can't imagine why they thought it was going to succeed at those prices.

It could have been intentionally set to a more expensive price level, to manage the number of people using it. (To manage the "load" on the product development team, because if 2% of all users encounter some problems - or otherwise need support - then it's not scalable.)

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#242

Post by jarjoura »

code_duck wrote: post #234
andrei_says_ wrote: post #224

I went to one in SoCal and was terrified. the entrance they asked me you to scan my prime membership, and told me that I can then fill out my basket - and basically walk out with my stuff without checkout - just moving it into a bag on the way out. I asked how they know what’s in my basket to charge me for it and they said that there are cameras watching me the whole time and noting what I take off the shelf and put…

One thing to note is that other retailers do that too - track people around stores with Bluetooth and I assume other methods, noting where shoppers linger, what they buy and what they hesitate on. But they don't tell us they do this.

Not that you're wrong, but there's definitely a huge perceptual difference when one method is done visually and another is done anonymously.

Amazon Go's system knows who I am, what item I grab off the shelf, put back and then what I ultimately leave with. There's so much personal information they gather from that order and it shows up downstream across their other products.

Bluetooth tracking can't attach a face to that and that is a far more appropriate use of tracking. It aids restocking decisions, promotions, etc, that I have no problem participating in.

My point is, if I like a particular item, I don't mind the store knowing that and keeping it stocked, and paired with other items I buy together with it. I just don't want the store to know my emotional state, confusion, and speed at which I grabbed an item.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#243

Post by passwordqwe »

Spivak wrote: post #188
bitxbitxbitcoin wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putting quinoa in everything and assuming the addressable market had more disposable income seems like one of the signs of the last bubble.

Why are people so weird about food? What about quinoa made it associated with rich yuppies? If you didn’t already know you would probably assume the main consumers would be dudes who want their chicken and carb to have even more protein.

There's reports of prisoners complaining about the torture of being fed salmon all the time, because it used to be common food. People signal their class and status through everything, also through food.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#244

Post by capableweb »

baq wrote: post #216
chordalkeyboard wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What about quinoa made it associated with rich yuppies? poor people use wheat etc.

Oh the irony. Rye was poor people’s cereal back then, wheat was for the rich.

Lobster was once for prisoners and slaves or a poor mans food, while nowadays it's almost exactly the opposite. It'll be hard to find a prisoner or slave that gets to eat lobster.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#245

Post by BoorishBears »

code_duck wrote: post #234
andrei_says_ wrote: post #224

I went to one in SoCal and was terrified. the entrance they asked me you to scan my prime membership, and told me that I can then fill out my basket - and basically walk out with my stuff without checkout - just moving it into a bag on the way out. I asked how they know what’s in my basket to charge me for it and they said that there are cameras watching me the whole time and noting what I take off the shelf and put…

One thing to note is that other retailers do that too - track people around stores with Bluetooth and I assume other methods, noting where shoppers linger, what they buy and what they hesitate on. But they don't tell us they do this.

They go as far as having lights transmit which part of the store you're in with imperceptible flickering: https://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/systems/lighting-system...

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#246

Post by phphphphp »

zxcvbn4038 wrote: post #92

I used to visit one of the NYC the Go stores daily until covid happened. It was cute and surgically clean, worked wonderfully, and their inventory management was much better then CVS and Duane Reade which often sell out of things and have empty shelves for days. But nobody ever went there - no matter what time of the day I went, there would be one person doing inventory and stocking, two people standing by to help pe…

I don't know if they've evolved their approach, if my local store is an outlier, or if yours was an outlier, but I live near an Amazon store and go in a few times per week: the experience you describe doesn't match my experience. Over maybe 100 visits: there's usually a few people in there at minimum, the food is pretty good (as far as convenience food store goes) and prices are the same as similar stores. I sometimes have to dance through a crowd of people struggling to get in.

I wouldn't say the concept is a huge success because... it's a convenience store, and location is far more important than anything else, so there's a pretty low ceiling on what a convenience store can achieve beyond being in a good location, but it is certainly convenient.

(As far as business goes, they seem like a cute experiment that has escaped the pointless novelty stage but hasn't reached the industry disruption stage ('cause there isn't one) and so is floating aimlessly in the middle space where they probably can just about justify keeping them around.)

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#247

Post by philistine »

crazygringo wrote: post #21
kentosi wrote: post #8

Slightly misleading title. They're closing 8 of their stores across NYC, SF, etc, and this is after they just opened a few more across the US.

And according to Google Maps there are 9 Amazon Go stores in NYC right now, so this would still leave 7 . Which is just business as usual, figuring out which stores in which locations turn out to be most profitable.

You're right, but it's weird for such a tech-focused company to close stores in such a fashion, because we're used to the giant margins of tech. Apple has never closed that many stores that quickly.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#248

Post by jarjoura »

13of40 wrote: post #222
CydeWeys wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the whole point of Amazon generally, and these stores specifically in not having staff, that it's supposed to be cheaper? I think you've pinpointed the reason it failed, but I can't imagine why they thought it was going to succeed at those prices.

I'm not sure it actually failed. These stores work by having AI track customer actions via camera, and over the last couple of years they've gotten a ton of data and domain knowledge from them. It isn't hard to imagine that's been leveraged in whatever's watching the cameras at Whole Foods.

Although they've added self-checkout lanes to Whole Foods, human interaction is in its DNA and you pay for that premium.

Amazon is only able to capture your order details if you use the app at checkout.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#249

Post by mynameisvlad »

nprateem wrote: post #226
mynameisvlad wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon lists lockers in buildings with controlled access as drop off points as well. It’s up to you to confirm you have access to the locker. If you need an app to enter that store and you need to enter the store to return an item, then it’s pretty clear you need an app to return an item at that store.

They didn't say I needed it.

It’s as if you didn’t read my comment at all.

> If you need an app to enter that store and you need to enter the store to return an item, then it’s pretty clear you need an app to return an item at that store.

Re: Amazon is closing its cashierless stores in NYC, San Francisco and Seattle

#250

Post by marsven_422 »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #219
annexrichmond wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if monopolies are allowed to flourish, because, that's what the government basically is - a monopoly on all services for which there's no private counterparts.

Monopolies are a fact of Capitalism. One of the roles of government is to provide a counter balance to that.

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