Amazon today announced that it will introduce its cashier-free checkout technology, known as Just Walk Out, to a Major League Baseball stadium for the first time in the coming months. The Just Walk Out system, which will be implemented at two stores at Minute Maid Park, will allow fans to purchase food and beverages while watching the Astros play baseball.
In the Astros’ home stadium, the 19th Hole and Market, which are two food and beverage stands, will use Just Walk out, which uses artificial intelligence, sensors, and computer vision to allow customers to shop without having to go through a checkout line, thereby avoiding long lines at the register. The way it works is as follows: When customers enter the store, they must insert their credit cards into the credit card gates. Customers add items to their virtual shopping carts as they pick them up from a store. They can put it back on the shelf to remove it from their virtual shopping cart if they want to. When customers leave the business, their credit cards will be immediately charged for any things they may have taken with them. There is no need for them to check out. Consumers will be required to provide identification to an attendant in order to purchase alcoholic beverages, and attendants will be on hand to assist customers with their purchases.
Dilip Kumar, Amazon’s vice president of physical retail and technology, said in a statement: “We’re delighted to partner with the Houston Astros to provide fans with a fast and simple method to buy for game day essentials at the 19th Hole and Market locations utilising Just Walk Out technology.” “Because our technology is designed to provide a fast and frictionless shopping experience, we’re thrilled to be able to assist fans in avoiding checkout lines when they need to refuel during games and between innings.” “Our technology is designed to provide a fast and frictionless shopping experience,” says the company.
It was announced in a statement that the Astros would collaborate with Amazon to bring their Just Walk Out Shopping experience to Minute Maid Park in 2022. Marcel Braithwaite, senior vice president, Business Operations for the Astros, said in the statement that the team was “proud to collaborate with Amazon.” “We wanted to present our fans with this cutting-edge technology, which would allow them to have a more streamlined and convenient purchase experience, allowing them to spend more time watching baseball.”
The 19th Hole store is located on the Concourse level behind Section 156, and the Just Walk Out technology-enabled Market store is located on the Honda Club level behind Section 211. Both stores are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. According to MLB, both stores provide a variety of snacks, drinks, candy, and alcoholic beverages that are ready to drink.
As a result of the inclusion of these two baseball stadium stores, Amazon has continued to expand its cashier-less technology, which is now available at Amazon Go and Fresh locations nationwide. Beginning in 2020, Amazon will begin licencing the technology to third-party shops. Since then, it has been licenced by the British grocery store chain Sainsbury’s, and it is now available in airport shops. Just Walk Out was introduced at certain Whole Foods and Starbucks locations last year, and it has since grown in popularity.
A few days ago, Amazon announced the opening of another Fresh grocery store in the Washington, D.C. area that was equipped with the Just Walk Out technology. This comes on the heels of several Fresh store openings this year, including those in Moorpark, California; Naperville, Illinois; and Seattle, Washington, all of which utilised the same technology as well.
