E-commerce
Amazon is selling its no-checkout tech to other stores,…
This seems an obvious data play. If you squint hard enough, there might be a coherent strategy here:
- Have physical retail for items not easily sold online (e.g. perishables w/ Whole Foods), for immediate service (e.g. prepared meals with Amazon Go) and to experiment (e.g. Amazon Go). This allows them the last mile of connecting off and online shopping to customers.
- Let others bear the burden of high fixed cost, low-margin real estate
How much we want that is another discussion.
If Just Walk Out takes off, it could upend the entire brick-and-mortar retail system even without shifting ever-greater amounts of shopping online. Yet in announcing the new program, Amazon has chosen not to discuss many fundamental issues, such as how it’ll affect jobs and what it will do with all the data it collects. The company declined to answer most questions for this story, instead referring to a brief question-and-answer section on its website.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90474953/amazon-is-selling-its-no-checkout-tech-to-other-stores-and-we-have-questions
Andrew Breen is a partner at The Buy Build Fund and the principal of Assert Digital Ventures where he acquires & invests in small, cash flow positive digital businesses with growth potential. He uses his years of digital product experience to expand the market. Currently focused on health & wellness, Andrew has grown ADV’s acquisitions significantly to date. In addition, Andrew advises leading companies from startups, investors to Fortune 1000 companies on digital products and transformation. Known for his deep knowledge of the Lean framework, Andrew has significantly restructured the digital products, processes and culture of a range of companies. He is an adjunct professor at both NYU's Stern School of Business and Courant (CS) Institute teaching on a range of tech product management and innovation topics. He is contributing author on two books on tech product and cultural topics.
