At the start of 2018, the supermarket industry faced an enormous change. In Seattle, Amazon opened their first ‘Amazon Go’ store. This supermarket can be considered to be a ‘smart’ supermarket. In this supermarket, customers grab products from the shelves as usual. When a product is taken from the shelves, this product is linked to the customer, through the Amazon Go smartphone app. When walking out of the store, all the bought products are charged to the customer’s credit card. Due to this technology, the customer will not need to pass a register, thereby replacing some of the traditional supermarket staff. When first hearing the news about the Amazon Go launch, it all seemed very far away: It was launched by the big Amazon and the first store was located in Seattle. Recently, however, a similar disruptive technology has hit the Dutch markets.
In September 2018, major supermarket chain Albert Heijn implemented their Albert Heijn Tap to Go system, which, in some way, is very comparable to the Amazon Go system. Here, customers use a special card, with which they scan their product by holding the card on the price tag, which then registers the product. When the customer has collected and scanned all their products, they can walk out the store: the products are automatically charged to them, since the card is linked to their personal account. The system is now only used in two stores, where normal shopping is also still possible. Ahold plans to use the system in all of their approximately 80 AH to go stores.
So, what seemed far away when Amazon launched it, is something that will soon be found at every AH to go and thus every large train station in the Netherlands. This technology seems very disruptive and could soon disrupt the entire supermarket industry, since Ahold shows that they can easily implement this in their 80 to go stores. The question is, however: Will this disruptive technology completely change the way supermarkets operate or will it still be a while until we will never have to pass the register again?
Sources:
Reuters (2018, January 22). Amazon’s first checkout-free grocery store opens on Monday. Retrieved September 29, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/21/amazons-first-automated-store-opens-to-public-on-monday
Smit, R. (2018, September 24). Retrieved September 29, 2018, from https://fd.nl/ondernemen/1271322/eerste-albert-heijn-winkel-zonder-kassa
Image source: https://nieuws.ah.nl/ah-to-go-test-kassaloos-shoppen-tap-grab-en-go/
Interesting topic! Did you know that Amazon was inspired by the supermarket concept Alibaba introduced in China? AH and Amazon are mainly focussed at quick in-store transactions etc. Alibaba is taking the whole concept to another level. For example, Alibaba is offering the same transaction concept but in addition the food will be brought to your home after you walked out of the store, resulting in an effortless shopping experience. I suggest that looking at Alibaba, instead of Amazon, yas a driver for changes in the retail market is more sufficient in this situation.
Take a look at it yourself:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/313765