CNBC: Amazon’s Grab-and-Go Stores to Pressure Grocers to Step-Up ‘Smart Store’ Efforts

According to CNBC, Amazon Go’s recent announcement about their new grab-and-go stores has caught major grocery chains’ attention. Last week, Amazon opened its first ‘smart’ grocery store, which utilizes an app that shoppers swipe when entering the store, shop as usual, leave and then receive a receipt, which is sent to their phone. The store is able to track shoppers’ purchases with technology used in autonomous cars.

"I think it's definitely going to make other retailers stand up and take notice," Patricia Orsini, an analyst at eMarketer, told CNBC. "It's addressing a lot of the pain points that people have in terms of shopping — the amount of time spent and standing in line and that sort of thing."

Many critics wonder whether or not Amazon Go stores will see an increase in shoplifting, which has been an issue grocers have seen with self-checkout. Even so, major grocers like Krogers and Walmart have been testing out new technologies throughout some of their locations over the past few years. CNBC says analysts are saying, however, that Amazon’s new store is setting the bar much higher.

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