Amazon ending 'Just Walk Out' grocery checkout

What happened?

Amazon will remove its "Just Walk Out" checkout technology at all U.S. Amazon Fresh grocery stores, a company executive told The Information on Tuesday. "Just Walk Out," which uses cameras, shelf sensors and sometimes offsite workers to tally and charge customers for their groceries, was installed at 27 of the 44 U.S. Amazon Fresh stores.

Who said what?

"We're rolling out Amazon Dash Cart, our smart shopping carts" that let shoppers scan items as they put them in the cart, an Amazon spokesperson said to Gizmodo.

The commentary

When "Just Walk Out" debuted in 2016, it was "Amazon's biggest and boldest innovation in grocery shopping," Gizmodo said. But the "stumbles" and the high costs made Amazon less competitive "with food goliaths like Walmart, Costco and Kroger." Dash Carts are "far simpler, probably less error-prone and almost certainly cheaper" than "Just Walk Out," The Verge said.

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What next?

Some Amazon Go convenience stores and smaller Amazon Fresh shops in the U.K. will continue using "Just Walk Out," The Wall Street Journal said.