Amazon launches its Amazon Go grocery, where you just take things from the shelves and walk out

The evolving merger of physical retailing and online commerce took another step forward today, with Amazon’s announcement of the launch of its Amazon Go store.

“If it works as advertised, it’s definitely a breakthrough,” Gartner Research VP Mark Hung told me.

The 1800-square-foot facility, located at the corner of 7th Avenue and Blanchard Street in Seattle and oriented around meal preparation, requires that the customer have a supported smartphone, an Amazon account, and the free Go app. The Go store project is currently in beta and only Amazon employees can use it, but the company says it will open to the public early next year.

The basic selling point of Go, as the online retailing giant noted in its announcement:

“With our Just Walk Out Shopping experience, simply use the Amazon Go app to enter the store, take the products you want, and go! No lines, no checkout. (No, seriously.)”

[Read the full article on MarTech Today.]

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.