Could Amazon revolutionize the shopping experience?

Amazon just opened the first store with no cashiers or checkouts.

Using technology it has been able to do away with both of these traditional aspects of a shop and just let customers walk out, having worked out what they have purchased.

Will it revolutionize shopping? I am not sure in the short term as this is some quite impressive technology and I am not sure it scales to a normal shop or supermarket however it has the potential to really shake things up over time - or at least push the incumbent shops to think again.

[Update] Ben Thompson (I love his analysis) has an interesting view that Amazon won’t license this approach, at least initially, and will use it to build a bigger gap between itself and other retailers. It also highlights why Amazon is such an unusual company in its approach to business and the way it grows.

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Ben Thompson/Stratchery

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