EXCLUSIVE: Q&A with Jon Jenkins, VP of Amazon's Just Walk Out technology
Amazon is actively expanding the presence of its Just Walk Out frictionless shopping platform in settings that include stadiums and universities.
Chain Store Age recently spoke with Jon Jenkins, VP of Just Walk Out technology at Amazon, about the retailer’s ongoing efforts to bring the solution to stadium concessions stores and college campuses.
Based on generative AI technology, the Just Walk Out frictionless shopping platform enables customers to take what they want without having to stop to check out, with the experience made possible by computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning technology that detects what customers take from or return to the shelves.
In addition, an RFID-enabled version of the solution initially released in September 2023 extends the Just Walk Out model to softlines by applying a unique RFID tag to all the items for sale, enabling automatic payment when the tags are read by RFID readers at an exit gate and giving customers the option to wear their purchases out of the store.
What are some of the unique advantages that Amazon Just Walk Out offers in a stadium or collegiate setting?
Stadium concessions are focused on getting the customer what they need as quickly as possible. That’s a common theme across both universities and stadiums. When you're at a game, your primary purpose is to see the game. When you go to a Just Walk Out store, you want to get in and out fast, and it’s a perfect solution for that.
Similarly at universities, students are often time-constrained, so we see the technology resonate there. We’re also starting to see that in other areas as well. For example, hospitals are another place where Just Walk Out is taking off. There are doctors and nurses with busy schedules that are trying to get food.
How does RFID enablement enhance the Just Walk Out model?
RFID-enabled stores are a new Just Walk Out store format used to sell apparel and fan merchandise within stadiums. These types of products have been a challenge in the past for other computer vision-based stores, because the products can look visually similar but have very different prices.
For example, a small and an extra-large jersey might have different prices, and Amazon’s Just Walk Out RFID solution makes that an easier problem to solve while making it less important for the store to remain organized.
About 15 minutes after the doors open in a stadium merchandise store, it looks like a tornado has gone through there. In an RFID-enabled Just Walk Out store, that's not a problem at all.
How have stadiums, universities and customers responded to Just Walk Out?
What we're seeing now is that shoppers have figured out how Just Walk Out works and are demanding more of the store experience. But customers are also promoting these stores on behalf of the stadiums and the teams and the universities.
We have been seeing improvement over time in the performance of these stores, and that's leading to increased adoption. A good example of this is Lumen Field in Seattle. The first year we opened stores there in 2022, the number of shoppers was up 60% and sales were up about 100%.
[READ MORE: Seattle Seahawks to offer Amazon ‘Just Walk Out’ at home field]
By 2023, we saw the number of shoppers up by 85% and sales up 112%. This year, we're opening six new stores there to get to a total of 15 stores, because the Seattle Seahawks and Lumen Field see how well these stores are performing over time so they want to keep adding more.
And a lot of newer stadiums, instead of opening one store their first year, are going all in from the start. We are opening seven stores right out of the gates at Commanders Field in Washington, D.C. this year.
And it shouldn't be surprising that universities have caught on so quickly, since students are early technology adopters in general, but some of our busiest Just Walk Out stores are on university campuses where students love the fact that they can have access to food and other things they need at all hours of the day.
Looking ahead for the next six to 12 months, what do you see happening with Just Walk Out?
We will continue to expand and improve the technology is in ways to pay. Universities are a good example. Sometimes students have meal plans, which are often run by a third-party company. We have added the capability for students to use those meal plans in the Just Walk Out stores so they can take advantage of the money they already have available to shop there.
We will continue to add more ways to pay. In stadiums, season ticket-holders may have a certain amount of spend per game that's pre-funded. Supporting things like that are really important for us.
In addition, the variety of items that can be sold in a Just Walk Out store continues to expand. Each year, we increase the capabilities of the technology to support a broader product selection, with our goal being that someday anything you could ever want to buy in a store could be sold using Just Walk Out.
Before too long, we will double the number of third-party Just Walk Out stores. There are currently more than 180 third-party stores, including more than 80 stores in NFL, Major League Soccer, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball stadiums and arenas around the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada. Third-party Just Walk Out stores are also in more than 30 universities worldwide.
