![]() Sensors are placed under each apple, carton of oatmeal and boule of multigrain bread. The technology, known as Just Walk Out, consists of hundreds of cameras with a god’s-eye view of customers. Along with another prototype Whole Foods store, which will open in Los Angeles this year, Amazon designed my local grocer to be almost completely run by tracking and robotic tools for the first time. The main evidence of change were the discounts and free home delivery for Amazon Prime members.īut this 21,000-square-foot Whole Foods just north of Georgetown has catapulted Amazon’s involvement forward. Now the Amazon-ification of the grocery chain is physically complete, as showcased by the revamped Whole Foods store in Glover Park.įor a long time, Amazon made only small steps toward putting its mark on the more than 500 Whole Foods stores in the United States and Britain. More than four years ago, Amazon bought Whole Foods for $13 billion. Whole Foods - or rather Amazon - would bill my account later. Then I simply walked out, no cashier necessary. Cameras and sensors recorded each of my moves, creating a virtual shopping cart for me in real time. I picked up a bag of cauliflower florets, grapefruit sparkling water, a carton of strawberries and a package of organic chicken sausages. Then I hovered my right palm over the turnstile reader to enter the nation’s most technologically sophisticated grocery store.įor the next 30 minutes, I shopped. In less than a minute, I scanned both hands on a kiosk and linked them to my Amazon account. ![]() She blithely added, “You can also begin shopping by scanning the QR code in your Amazon app.” That was the question a cheerful Amazon employee posed when greeting me last week at the opening of a Whole Foods Market in Washington’s Glover Park neighborhood. “Would you like to sign in with your palm?”
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