Last Friday, the UK Intellectual Property Office approved the Amazon trademark slogans "No Line. No Checkout. (No, Seriously)" and "No Queue. No Checkout. (No, Seriously)"; these slogans are associated with its flagship Amazon Go grocery stores in Seattle. Many think this is a strong sign that Amazon is expanding its futuristic grocery experience overseas.
The Amazon Go flagship stores currently offer a very unique shopping experience. Shoppers, who have installed the Amazon Go app onto their smartphones, simply walk in and beep themselves into the store, very much like you would do with an access card; they can then browse and pick what they want, with the store automatically knowing what you have taken. After that, customers simply walk out of the store with their items being charged digitally to their account.
According to Amazon, the system relies on a combination of "computer vision, deep learning algorithms, and sensor fusion much like you"d find in self driving cars", calling all of this Just Walk Out Technology.
This could signal the entrance of a no waiting shopping experience that UK rivals such as Tesco, Sainsburys, and others currently do not. The trademark registration was also put to the equivalent European Union body, which means that Amazon is looking to potentially expand this to the European Union too.
If we think about Amazon"s ideas on drone deliveries to your home from flying warehouses, the Just Walk Out Technology, as innovative as it is, does seem, literally, a lot more down to Earth.
Sources: Bloomberg | Images via Amazon