Amazon today unveiled a new business line, selling its “Just Walk Out” cashierless technology to other retailers.
- Amazon originally developed the technology inside its Amazon Go stores, enabling shoppers to pay for items by simply walking out.
- Installation can take as little as a few weeks, and can be done in existing stores. Amazon offers 24/7 support. It has signed “several deals” with retailers already, Reuters reported.
- The strategy is similar to Amazon Web Services — Amazon first built the cloud computing technology for its own purposes, then sold it to others and created a huge business.
- The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union criticized Amazon’s announcement. “This so-called cashierless technology is nothing but a trojan horse that will let Amazon control and monopolize competing retailers and give Jeff Bezos direct access to their customer data,” UFCW said in a statement. “It is time for regulators and our elected leaders to act before Amazon does lasting damage to our already-fragile economy.”
