Amazon GO

Tiffany Santana
December 6th 2016
Amazon Go
The step to revolutionize the shopping experience for the consumer is one that many may think could be the craziest idea to ever cross someone’s mind, especially when thinking to compete with mega stores like Walmart, target and many others. Amazon has decided to take this step into the future and take on the challenges that most people don’t see feasible. Not releasing many details they have touched on what they believe will work for them and introduce the world to Amazon Go.
To start things off, Amazon released a two
minute video that showcases a member enter their store with just a scan of their phones, walk up to a refrigerator, grab an item and watch it miraculously added to their virtual cart. It then goes on to show how if and when the buyer decides to put the item back, the Amazon Go app detects it and subtracts it from their virtual cart. Magic, huh? This has got to be every shoppers dream who dreads waiting on line and remotely thinking about having interaction with another human being. It also sounds like heaven for cashiers who hate dealing with difficult people. Only thing is that here they don’t deal with people at all and that probably means they won’t have a job either. Amazon goes on to state how you don’t pay for anything in store, your account will be charged once you leave the Amazon Go location, anything to make things easier for the humans!
Their target audience isn’t specified but you
can assume it’ll be for more laid back places because maybe having hundreds of people in and out in a rush won’t be the best idea for theft purposes but surely something in the future similar will come of it. When brainstorming what can elevate this idea or even target an audience specifically , an idea came to mind. Targeting health fanatics who don’t have time to meal prep for the week would be amazing. Deciding on your app on different combinations for the week that work within your calorie intake and goal would be huge! Just order it on the app, walk in and walk out and everyone is a happy camper. It’s something that targets an audience but not only just that, a huge one at that especially for busy places where people don’t have the time to cook or prep meals for themselves but want to lead a healthier lifestyle.
Building around that same idea, another
thing that can work in this type of environment is almost an idea of adapting the fantasy football mentality to foods! You get a cap calorie goal/intake, the app allows you to choose meals accordingly, and they all have differently calorie totals and if you surpass them you’re not allowed to proceed to checkout. Making it both a fun and productive experience and one that will push people to want to stick to their calorie goals and even compete with their friends, maybe allowing them to do it together and share their meal strategies with each other.
Though they still have a lot to touch base
on with the public about this idea, this project can go in so many directions and it’s definitely exciting to think about. I’m sure with change some skepticism will come along but this may be for the better or maybe it’s time the robots take over the world and the humans move to mars. Either way, sounds great to me.