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Amazon's AI-Enhanced Grocery Store Can't Handle Crowds

The store is plagued with technical problems, according to the Wall Street Journal, including sensors that don't recognize purchases unless shoppers move slowly.

 & Tom Brant Managing Editor

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Shoppers who dread waiting in a grocery store checkout line will have to wait a bit longer for Amazon's cashier-less store concept to open its doors.

Amazon has indefinitely delayed the public opening of the store, called Amazon Go, which was originally expected to start selling goods to the public early this year in the company's hometown of Seattle. Amazon has run into kinks with technology that automatically charges customers for their purchases when they leave the store, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

In early testing with Amazon employees, the store's systems only perform flawlessly when there are a few shoppers, or when they move slowly, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. In other words, Amazon Go doesn't work very well under actual grocery store conditions.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Announced last fall, Amazon Go promises a check-out free shopping experience that lets you scan your smartphone when you arrive, and simply walk out of the store once you've finished collecting your purchases. The technology is supposed to automatically detect when you take an item off the shelf, and keep track of it in a virtual cart.

The 1,800-square-foot store is located at 2131 7th Ave., just north of downtown Seattle. When it opens, it will offer prepared breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack items plus a selection of grocery essentials and meal kits.

Amazon Go is a single storefront amid the online retail giant's vast effort to reshape the grocery business and compete with the likes of Walmart. The effort also includes the Amazon Fresh delivery service. It's already available in many US cities, and Amazon is also testing several futuristic options for Fresh, including drive-in grocery pickup centers in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood where shoppers have online orders loaded into their cars.

About Our Expert

Tom Brant

Tom Brant

Managing Editor

I’m a managing editor at PCMag.com focused on PC hardware. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of Wi-Fi routers, printers, laptops, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.

I've covered most major consumer tech events, including CES, Computex, Google I/O, and IFA. I've also appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.

Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rainforests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.

The Technology I Use

While most people buy a phone or laptop and stick with it for years, I’m lucky enough to use devices based on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows daily as part of my job. As a result, I cycle through lots of tech in addition to my IT-issue work laptop. (Yes, that's a ThinkPad.) Personally, I’ve also owned a lot of tech products both cutting-edge and cringeworthy, from the Nintendo GameCube and the original MacBook to the Palm m105 and the CueCat.

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