A Novelty, Or The Real Big Brother?

[Bambino]

Amazon's new convenience store. No staff at all.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/21/inside-amazons-surveillance-powered-no-checkout-convenience-store/

[sheepdog]

Novelty but some interesting tech there around the shelf weighting leading to replenishment as and when needed which is no doubt the one the big chains would be interested in having. Certainly help with reducing wastage and shelf life if its known when and what was placed. The RFID tech exists already to do that so perhaps this is overkill. 

But and here's the bit they've not considered as part of the testing: there's a certain type of shopper who likes to pick up things then go round then dump them. You know the type: cauliflowers in the freezer section, yoghurt in the cornflake aisle....

It may work for quick things like lunchtime but for your average supermarket shopper, this is just not needed or having any benefit to the weekly shopping experience.

Sheepdog in "I've done my time stacking shelves" mode

[MI5]

Brilliant idea.
Hope it takes off.

[Cleoriff]

This is an entirely new concept for me re Amazon.

I shop with them a lot, always online and never buy any food from them
I had no idea they were even thinking of opening a convenience food type store. (I see it's in Seattle)

All that said, in today's society, it could work if you were just popping in for a lunchtime snack  Or knew exactly what you wanted. A bit annoying to pick something up and find a better item further on.

Personally, I wouldn't be interested. I shop online for everything, even groceries. On the rare occasions I go into supermarkets I never use the cashierless bagging areas. Always something goes wrong and a cashier has to come over and reset the machine. Not for me. I think it's gimmick. (others will disagree)

[pgn]

I tend to favour @sheepdog's comment, where a shopper backtracks and replaces items upon finding a better/cheaper/preferred item later during the selection phase.

Haven't hotel minibars used similar techniques - weight, position etc, for decades?