Amazon Go cashierless checkouts coming to Whole Foods next year

Amazon Go, the mega-retailer’s cashierless “walk in, walk out” checkout product suite, is coming to Whole Foods locations next year, according to a report from The New York Post.

Why should we care?
Amazon Go’s cashierless checkout technology allows customers to grab items they need and leave, eliminating checkout lines. It spurred the rise of payments startups like Grabango, Standard Cognition, and Zippin, which help retailers go cashierless. The report suggests Amazon Go cashierless checkout, which is currently active in 26 Amazon Go stores in the U.S., will launch at Whole Foods in the second quarter of 2021. An unnamed source close to the company said Amazon is still struggling to make cashierless stores profitable. Questions around scalability of the technology arise from high overhead costs, and whether or not cashierless tech encourages bigger basket sizes. However, given an aversion to use of shared surfaces during the pandemic, cashierless stores may have new appeal. Amazon appears to be hedging its bets by rolling out the tech within its stores, and selling it to other retailers who want to go cashierless.