Amazon Go Grocery Store Locations: Working On Different Formats, Might Open More Than 2,000 Stores

Amazon Go, a grocery shopping experience without lines and checkouts revealed Monday, could open more than 2,000 stores, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The opening of those stores depend on the success of test locations, sources told the Journal . The first store, which is roughly 1,800 square feet, is in Seattle. The retail space is currently open to Amazon employees as part of the beta program, and will open to the public in early 2017.

Amazon is developing two other store formats, sources revealed. Apart from Amazon Go, the company is considering a bigger convenience-style store. Amazon’s technology team approved in November a proposal to launch large stores with curbside pickup. The approval cleared the path for planning and hiring, according to the report. Two drive-through prototype locations, with no in-person browsing, are also expected to open within the next few weeks in Seattle.

How Shopping at Amazon Go Works

All customers need to shop at Amazon Go is a smartphone, an Amazon account and the store’s app.

When shopping at Amazon Go stores, customers can take the products off the shelf and the items automatically get added to the client’s bill. If a person changes his or her mind on a product, all the customer has to do is put it back on the shelf and the item gets automatically taken off the cart on the app.

“Our checkout-free shopping experience is made possible by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning,” said Amazon on its site. “Our Just Walk Out technology automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to the shelves and keeps track of them in a virtual cart.”

The customers get charged through their amazon accounts after they leave the store.

Amazon Go locations will sell typical grocery products like bread and milk as well as artisanal cheeses and locally made chocolates. It will also offer ready-to-eat meals, fresh snacks and “chef-designed” Amazon Meal Kits, which include ingredients needed to make a meal for two in about 30 minutes.