When one passes by, it looks like a tuck shop along the wall where there is no staff, perhaps who are on a short break. Take a closer look and there is no one (wo)manning this shop. It’s a self checkout store at the Terminal D of the Philadelphia International Airport, USA.
The concept is powered by Amazon’s “Just Walk Out Technology”.
While entering the store, one has to swipe their credit card. The browsing customers can pick what they want, leave behind what they don’t and when they leave their store, their credit card gets charged with only what they took from the store.
Aptly named “The Everything Travel Store”, one can pick up nachos, chips, earphones, charging cables, slippers, personal hygiene products, memorablia and souvenirs depicting the city of Philadelphia, the store’s tagline after all is “If you forgot it, we’ve got it”. With an easy to refill model, any product, can pretty much be included. This would also be an apt platform for many brands to push new launches at exciting prices.
Jon Jenkins, Vice President, Just Walk Out Technology, Amazon said, “With an award-winning food, beverage and retail program, the team at Philadelphia International Airport is always looking for new ways to enhance the travel experience. Opening a store powered by Just Walk Out technology offers travelers at PHL a fast and frictionless way to shop for essentials and continue on to their destination.”
Mel Hannah, Vice President and General Manager, MarketPlace PHL, Philadephia International Airport said, “It’s exciting to offer this new, innovative shopping option for travelers at PHL. Checkout-free shopping offers passengers and employees at PHL a quick, convenient way to purchase items without having to wait in line to pay.”
Sandra Long, founder and CEO at SLA Worldwide which manages the new concept store said, “SLA Worldwide is excited to collaborate with Amazon to bring Just Walk Out technology to the Philadelphia Airport. At our Everything Travel store, guests will experience the future of frictionless shopping.”
Using a combination of artificial intlligence such as computer vision and deep learning, Just Walk Out Technology determines accurately, who took what. While Amazon has been using this native technology only at its own offline stores, the tech major seems to be offering this SaaS to third-party companies such as retailers who operate at airports and perhaps at other transit points such as metro rails, subways, etc.
One of the biggest painpoints at airports is the long queues at convenience stores, where passengers detest waiting and instead skip the shopping opportunity. This is mostly prevalent during peak hours where the potential sales are high as well as lead to drop-sales. Technology such as this one by Amazon, could indeed bridge the gap.
The worldwide travel retail business exceeded US $ 40 billion across the top 100 airports worldwide across 75 countries. In India, the overall travel retail opportunity including domestic (product) retail, duty free and F&B across the currently operational 135+ airports is less than US $ 1 Bn while India is the third largest aviation market in the world after the USA and China.
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