By Jon Jenkins, vice president, Just Walk Out technology
The O2 will be one of more than a dozen third-party locations in the UK to offer Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology by the end of this year.
At Amazon, we obsess over customers and solving problems that stand the test of time. Long queues have always been a nuisance, and that’s true all around the world. Just Walk Out technology is looking to solve that problem for shoppers in the UK, which is why this year we’ll more than triple the number of third-party stores in the country, and we’re just getting started.
The latest Just Walk Out technology-enabled store in the UK launches this summer at The O2, a world-famous live entertainment venue and the first indoor arena in England to use Just Walk Out technology. The new store will allow fans to tap their card or mobile wallet, grab their chosen drinks and snacks, and get them back to their seats so they don’t miss a moment of the game or show.
This store at The O2 is the latest step in our vision to bring this frictionless shopping experience to customers across the UK in places like sports stadiums, entertainment venues, airports, hospitals, universities, and more. To enable secure payment processing at The O2, we worked with Adyen, a global financial technology platform.
Here’s what to look for on your first visit, and the behind-the-scenes tech that makes it possible.
How does Just Walk Out technology work?
Shopping at a Just Walk Out technology store is as simple as using your card or mobile wallet to enter, grabbing what you want, and leaving. That’s it. But while the experience is simple, the technology behind it is anything but. For UK shoppers who may be new to using the technology, here’s how it works.
Years before Generative AI rose to public consciousness, our team of researchers used it to help develop Just Walk Out technology. Millions of AI-generated images and video clips were synthesised to mimic possible shopping scenarios – including variations in store format, lighting conditions, and crowds of shoppers, and these datasets were used to train Just Walk Out. These synthetic datasets allowed them to scale the original idea for the technology to recognise millions of actions with unparalleled accuracy.
Our researchers seamlessly combined computer vision, object recognition, advanced sensors, deep machine learning models, and generative AI, to figure out almost instantly which customer took a beverage and who took a bag of crisps, charge them correctly, and allow them to simply walk away with their items. When a shopper picks up a chocolate bar, the Just Walk Out technology adds it to their virtual basket. If they decide to return it to the shelf, the technology will automatically remove it.
We are able to distinguish shoppers from one another without collecting or using any biometric information. The technology simply links a customer with their payment instrument via a temporary numeric code, which serves as their unique digital signature for that shopping trip. The system preserves the code throughout their visit. When they exit, the code disappears, and if they come back, they get a new code.
Just Walk Out technology is so accurate, it can track groups of shoppers, too. More than one person can enter a store with a single card. The system tracks each individual, and when the group walks out, the system knows which shoppers were using the same card and generates one receipt for their collective purchases.
Where to find Just Walk Out technology in the UK
The O2 adds to a growing list of prominent UK venues that have opened stores powered by Just Walk Out technology, including ExCel London and The SSE Arena, Belfast. We have stores in corporate headquarters like Bentley Motors and Santander Bank, as well as our own Amazon headquarters in London. We’re also in hospitals and universities, including stores at Telford Hospital and Sussex University, and we recently launched a store at Gridserve’s EV Station at Gatwick Airport, with more Gridserve stores coming later this year. By the end of 2024, we expect to be in more than a dozen third-party stores in the UK, as well as in all 20 UK Amazon Fresh stores.
Why retailers love our technology
Just Walk Out technology has proven to be a great fit in small-format stores where shoppers are on a “mission driven” shopping trip, making quick purchases of relatively few items. Our third-party customers choose to open stores operated by Just Walk Out technology for four main reasons.
1) Increased throughput
At venues like The O2, fans love being able to get what they want and get back to their seats quickly, but our store operators also love it because it allows them to serve more customers than they could with a traditional store. For example, SSE Arena, Belfast launched a Just Walk Out store in March of this year, and they’ve seen first-time users have an average transaction time of less than a minute, and return users are in and out in as little as 10 seconds. This increased throughput has led to an uplift in sales of 10-40%, depending on the event.
2) Extended operating hours
Just Walk Out technology allows stores to operate unattended during periods when the store can’t be staffed, and this benefit is a game changer in healthcare settings like Telford Hospital, where overnight staff often have limited access to quality food options.
3) Optimised staffing
Our technology is also a great fit for businesses that experience traffic fluctuations throughout the day (e.g., the lunch rush). We see this in conference centres with busy events that have shoppers coming and going all day, but see peak rushes during meal times. Our technology allows the store to add staff during busy times, and operate with less staff during slower periods, all while increasing revenue. The Market Express at ExCel London, which has 400 events and more than 4 million visitors a year, is now able to serve 300% more customers on their busiest days and has increased annual revenue by 56%.
4) Reduced theft
Just Walk Out technology knows what shoppers take from and return to shelves by design, making it difficult to avoid paying for what’s taken. Pocketing a chocolate bar is theft in a traditional store, but for Just Walk Out technology, it’s a purchase.
What’s next for Just Walk Out technology in the UK and beyond
It’s an exciting time for Just Walk Out technology, as we recently announced our plans to more than double our global third-party store count in 2024. As of today, you can find Just Walk Out technology at more than 150 third-party locations across the U.S., UK, Australia, and Canada, with many more to come.
