Amazon revolutionised online shopping. Now, the company is looking to do the same for in-store grocery shopping. A few weeks ago, Amazon announced Amazon Go, a grocery store in Seattle. However, much like book shop it opened last year  – which used customer reviews and ratings to sort books – Amazon Go is a grocery store with a twist: it has no checkouts.

Expected to open to the public in early 2017, Amazon Go is limited to 1,800 square feet of retail space. The store will allow shoppers to install the Amazon Go app using existing account details and then simply grab the goods they want before leaving the store. Although the details are not yet know, some are speculating that the app will use facial recognition technology to separate legitimate shoppers from shoplifters.

The “checkout free” experience, of course, has its financial benefits – it reduces the overheads associated with both in-store staff and self-checkout machines and promotes impulsiveness. But, more deeply, the store may also represent a significant step forward in off-line retailing. According to Amazon, the store is equipped with “computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning”. In short, it may just be the smartest grocery shop ever created.

For the consumer, Amazon Go will mean shorter and less frustrating shopping trips. And, though whether or not consumers will embrace the model is yet to be seen, the store likely offers us a glimpse of what the future of brick-and-mortar retail looks like. We've already seen how eager Amazon is to break into the fashion world. Whilst that venture has not won over the taste makers, grocery shopping may be the place where Amazon finally makes substantial waves in physical retail.

What do you think? Will Amazon Go take off? Or is the idea of a checkout free store a flawed one?

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