Amazon’s march forward into brick-and-mortar retail continues with the opening of a second Amazon Go store on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Marion Street in Downtown Seattle.
The store operates on the same high-tech principles as the Amazon Go pilot store that opened in January. With the installed Amazon Go smartphone app, customers swipe in at the point of entry. From there, an all-watching panopticon of cameras and sensors tracks customers as they load their carts with shelved products.
Images collected from the surveillance system are relayed to a central processing unit that adds objects to what can be considered a virtual shopping bag. On top of surveillance, each shelf is meticulously weighed to detect the removal of any product. The customer’s credit card is charged automatically after leaving the store.
Reported by the Seattle Times the new store is notably smaller than the first location, cut down from 1,800 to 1,450 square feet. As a result, the new location will not feature a beer selection or an in-house kitchen.
The second Amazon Go is one of six that the retailer intends to open this year in Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco.
