Thomas Jefferson once said "walking is the best possible exercise" and Amazon (AMZN) is giving some of its Whole Foods customers a head start.
Instead of hanging around for what feels like forever in store checkout lines, Amazon's "Just Walk Out" technology allows people to shop and go -- right out the door.
Here's how it works: customers enter the store by inserting a credit card, using a QR code on an app, or hovering their palm over an Amazon One device.
The system automatically tallies items that shoppers take off shelves and processes payment when they leave so them can avoid waiting in line.
This may sound kind of spooky to people used to ringing up their purchases, but apparently "Just Walk Out" is working out just fine, according to a report by the analytics firm Placer.ai.
Amazon introduced the technology at its Amazon Fresh store in Bellevue, WA in 2021 and has since expanded the program to about 28 locations.
The company brought "Just Walk Out" last year to Whole Foods stores in Washington D.C. and Sherman Oaks, CA. and independent grocery store Community Groceries in Kansas City, MS.
Shoppers Seem to Like 'Just Walk Out'
The Washington D.C. store has seen a greater share of early afternoon visit times compared with nearby Whole Foods locations, Placer.ai, said.
Median dwell times are also lower, suggesting that shoppers choose the “Just Walk Out” store during the mid-day grocery rush because it means they can be in and out faster.
As for the Left Coast, “SoCal Whole Foods shoppers seem highly receptive to the frictionless shopping concept and it has proven itself as an efficient store format for the brand,” Placer.ai said.
The technology also has been deployed at other third-party venues such as travel retailer WHSmith in New York's LaGuardia Airport and Minute Maid Park in Houston.
"Sounds good to me," one person said on Twitter. "Making people wait in line to give you money is a terrible business model."
"I only use cash," another tweet read. "I prefer them not to know what i purchase with my money, it is none of their business."
Amazon, which bought Whole Foods in 2017, announced last month that it would lay off 18,000 workers, reportedly focusing on corporate positions rather than warehouse jobs.
