How Amazon Go Store Works

Amazon Go is the first store of its kind where no checkout is required. They sell prepared foods and grocery staples, although nonfood items like batteries and over-the-counter medicine also are available. Food offerings include ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack options made by the company’s chefs and local kitchens and bakeries. There's also a small selection of beer and wine.

The futuristic grab-and-go market represents a test of new technology that could soon spread nationwide, as Amazon and other grocery giants seek to win business from shoppers craving selection, ease and speed.

You use the Amazon Go app to enter the store.

Here's how the entire process works.

Customers enter the turnstiles by scanning a QR code. Anything you pick up is added to your virtual cart. Any items you put back will automatically be removed from your cart. 

Once you finished shopping, you can walk right out. The Just Walk Out technology automatically debits your Amazon account for the items you take and then sends a receipt to the app. No cashier needed.

But how does Amazon make sure no one steals anything?

Amazon Go uses cameras and high-tech sensors. The store’s cameras include infrared sensors, but the company says it does not employ facial recognition. Some items have large, camera-friendly codes to help the cameras understand which items have been grabbed; the computers combine that information with data from weight sensors installed in every shelf.

The combination of cameras and sensors keeps track of where the items are located. However, the technology isn't perfect, as some people have proven.

Currently, Seattle is Amazon Go's pilot location. Meanwhile, the 2,000-square-foot Chicago store marks the first Amazon Go outside Amazon’s hometown of Seattle.