Ampm opens frictionless store at Golden State Warriors home arena
Autonomous checkout is now available at an ampm store located in San Francisco’s Chase Center.
The Golden State Warriors NBA basketball franchise and Chase Center have opened ampm ASAP Grab-and-Go, a new store offering autonomous checkout that runs on Verizon Business and AiFi technology. Originally launched as a pilot during the 2022-23 NBA season, the store is now fully operational for all events at Chase Center and is located on the main concourse.
Customers can tap, swipe or insert a credit card upon entering the store. After selecting their preferred items, they can then walk through the exit gate and items are automatically charged to their card without cashier interaction or any required wait times.
Leveraging Verizon 5G network capabilities, ampm ASAP Grab and Go utilizes back-end store analytics and computer vision to ensure available stock and prevent shrinkage. The store sells pre-packaged snacks, candy, freshly baked cookies, and beverages.
“Our innovative self-checkout technology allows customers at Chase Center to spend less time in line and more time enjoying Warriors games,” said ampm VP of convenience Lisa Blalock. “This is part of our commitment to enhancing the ampm shopping experience with reduced wait times and increased speed of service. We are excited about putting this technology into action at Chase Center, and we look forward to more innovations at ampm locations.”
“The ampm ASAP Grab and Go store is a perfect opportunity to leverage innovative technology that will enhance the fans’ food and beverage experience at Chase Center,” said Warriors chief commercial office Mike Kitts. “Innovation is a core component of our business, and both Verizon and ampm have a laser focus on creating opportunities to enhance the customer experience, a unique partnership triangulation that has resulted in a new, innovative grab-and-go contactless shopping concept.”
“The ampm ASAP Grab and Go is emblematic of our commitment to partnering with venues in driving the future of the fan experience," said Verizon Business senior VP of global enterprise, Americas, Jonathan Nikols. “When you pair supply chain automation with frictionless checkout the result is a win-win for both the fan and venue operator.”
Ampm rolls out frictionless shopping
As part of a broader effort to offer autonomous checkout by its parent company BP, ampm implemented the Mashgin artificial intelligence (AI)-based self-checkout system at four locations in California during 2022. The Mashgin solution provides touchless self-checkout powered by AI and uses computer vision to scan items for purchase instantly.
Customers can walk in the participating ampm store, select the items they want, place them on the Mashgin kiosk tray, and have all of their products instantly recognized and simultaneously totaled in less than half a second. The solution eliminates the need to search for and scan barcodes.
Sports arenas implement autonomous checkout
In addition to Chase Center, a large number of stadiums and arenas across all major U.S. sports leagues are adopting cashierless shopping solutions from a variety of vendors.
For example, two convenience stores equipped with Amazon’s Just Walk Out frictionless shopping platform and Amazon One palm-based payment solution are now open at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, home field of the Texas Rangers pro baseball team.
And the Baltimore Orioles Major League Baseball team is partnering with integrated payment technology provider Shift4 to provide a frictionless shopping experience at concession locations across its Oriole Park at Camden Yards home stadium. Meanwhile, an integration between Shift4 and officially-licensed fan gear and merchandise brand Fanatics will support the retail transactions at the stadium’s merchandise locations.