Amazon has launched its first cashier-less supermarket, but has it planned for the worst?
Have you ever accidentally stolen something?
Ok, hear me out. A while back I was at a café and a waitress took my order for a flat white coffee. She returned a few minutes later with my drink, I sat there for five minutes drinking it and scrolling through Facebook on my phone and, when I’d finished, I stood up and walked away.
It was only later that day that I realised I never actually paid for the drink!
Don’t worry – I actually went back to the café to pay for it, but I’d like to think I’m not the only person who’s ever done this.
Little did I know that my accidental stealing was an accidentally accurate foreshadowing of the future of retail. That’s because earlier this week the global behemoth Amazon opened its first Go supermarket, which has no cashiers, simply charging customers through an app for items they have taken from shelves fitted with sensors.
According to Geek Wire, it’s quite a shopping experience:
The banks of cameras and sensors overhead track everything put into a shopping cart, with the help of artificial intelligence — rendering unnecessary the old-fashioned ritual of scanning and paying at a checkout stand. Items are charged to a shopper’s Amazon account shortly after they walk through the exit.
Wow! Very cool. Not even Back to the Future thought of that.
Naturally the store has some teething problems. Apparently, there are some issues with accurately weighing fruit and vegetables, while shoppers must also put a product back in its correct place if they do not want to be charged for it (how many of us actually do this?).
I’ve got to say, it’d surely be a little weird to go into a store and walk out with groceries without physically paying for it.
One question I have is what does this mean for consumer behaviour? After all, it’s long been established that the relative ‘pain’ of paying for things with cash can curb urges to purchase things like food, while credit card payments, due to them being relatively painless, actually weaken ones’ impulse control.
What happens if you remove having to even reach for your wallet or phone? I wonder if the psychological effects of not having to physically pay at all for small items will lead to people making even worse spending decisions.
I can already hear the social welfare and advocacy groups writing their communications strategies. There is a legitimate campaign to activate here.
Similarly, you can bet that Amazon and many credit card companies have got their communications teams working on crisis response plans.
I suppose the lesson for other organisations is to think of all sides of the issue. When introducing a new product or service, you can’t guarantee that just because it will benefit many it won’t enrage others. Clearly your go-to-market strategy must cater for all contingencies.
In the meantime, I’ll be making a concerted effort here to put fruit back on the shelves in the exact place I got it from, lest I get accidentally charged for a bunch of bananas next time I shop.
