DFW Airport becomes mecca for cashierless shopping
Two more frictionless stores are opening at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW).
DFW will now have four stores that offer a checkout-free shopping experience. One of America’s busiest airports, DFW already features a Grab & Fly travel store with frictionless shopping based on Amazon’s Just Walk Out platform, as well as a robotic store equipped with Swyft technology that lets customers use a mobile phone or physical credit card to complete their purchase.
The latest two cashierless stores at DFW are a combined Hudson Decanted/Nonstop location and a Zippin-powered airport store called Fort Worth Magazine. Details on each new store follow.
Hudson Decanted/Nonstop
Leading travel retailer Hudson, a Dufry company, is unveiling its combination Decanted and Hudson Nonstop concept at DFW. The Hudson Nonstop, which adjoins Decanted, features Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One palm-based payment.
By inserting a credit card or hovering their palm over the Amazon One device, customers can enter the store, pick up their products, and then exit, all without stopping to pay. Hudson debuted the Hudson Nonstop format, featuring Just Walk Out shopping, at Dallas Love Field Airport in 2021.
Spanning more than 1,600 square feet in Terminal B, the space brings together Hudson’s first-ever Decanted wine bar and its travel essentials store into one walkthrough location. Decanted features 25 seats for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or tapas. There is also an expansive drink menu.
“From the food to the overall experience, our new Decanted and Hudson Nonstop concept allows travelers to shop and eat the way they want to,” said Evan Schut, senior VP of food & beverage of Hudson. “With this milestone new opening, we further establish Hudson as a driver of the latest in dining innovation while continuing to deliver the widest variety of offerings, all in one place.”
“DFW Airport’s focus on a smooth customer experience continues with the addition of innovative technologies,” said Ken Buchanan, executive VP, revenue management and customer experience at DFW airport. “We understand the convenience our customers want when they are in our terminals, and it is our mission to help them travel as seamlessly as possible through DFW Airport.”
This is Hudson’s fourth Hudson Nonstop location in the U.S., including a recently opened location at Los Angeles International Airport and the second Hudson Nonstop store operated under a joint venture agreement with local Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) Partner Multiplex Inc.
Fort Worth Magazine
Leveraging the Zippin frictonless shopping solution, the Fort Worth Magazine store at DFW enables customers to tap a credit card to enter and then select the items they want. Zippin’s artificial intelligence (AI) software automatically identifies the items, using overhead cameras and sensors, and adds them to a virtual shopping cart.
The consumer can put the items in their pocket, bag, purse, or simply carry them out, with no checkout required. When they exit, the purchases are automatically charged and a receipt is available online.
Zippin worked with Puente Enterprises Inc. to construct the 1,400-square-foot store in Terminal C of DFW. It features an assortment of more than 900 convenience and consumer electronics products.
“Airports are melting pots of people, cultures, and social norms with one common challenge: getting to their destination on time. Making the process as natural as possible can level the playing field for a myriad of cultures that shop differently. Simply checking in with a payment method, taking products and walking out is a universally accessible model of shopping,” said Krishna Motukuri, CEO and co-founder of Zippin. “Eliminating the checkout all together helps retailers remove the friction and ease the stress of traveling to better serve the millions of people moving through airports while increasing their margins at the same time.”
The Zippin-enabled DFW store opened in July 2022. Zippinn-equipped checkout-free stores also operate at Tom Jobim International Airport (“Galeão”) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and at New York’s JFK International Airport.