Amazon will open its first Fresh supermarket for personalized shopping by invitation only this week, and will be open to the general public in the coming weeks, the company announced. The store is located in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, and will sell food such as pizzas and sandwiches prepared on site, as well as a variety of items from national and local markets. It is intended as a cheaper alternative to Amazon’s Whole Foods stores CBNC.
The latest configuration of Amazon’s supermarket store is full of technology, but will not use its cashless tech “Just Walk Out”. The Fresh store in LA is the first location where shoppers can use Amazon’s Dash Carts, where you log in with the Amazon app and are equipped with cameras and sensors to identify which items you fall into. The cart is compatible with a shopping list created with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. You can then pay automatically without waiting at the checkout in line. Amazon says there will also be Echo Show devices dotted in the store to help users find their way.
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As a result, the Go Grocery store Amazon recently opened in Seattle uses a series of overhead cameras and pressure-sensitive shelves to automatically detect what customers are buying, allowing them to purchase items by simply walking out of the store. It is thought that Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology will be difficult to scale to the new 35,000-square-foot Fresh store. CNET reports that the LA Fresh store is significantly larger than its 10,400-square-foot Amazon Go Grocery store in Seattle. However, there are reports that Amazon may launch the Go-store technology to Whole Foods supermarkets as early as next year.
Although this is the first time that Amazon Fresh will open for personal shopping, the store has been used since April to track online orders. Talk to you soon and keep up the good content CNBC, said the vice president of Amazon Fresh stores this was not the “first plan”, but that the company was responding to the growing demand for online orders caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Amazon declined to comment CNBC on as their other online-only Fresh stores in Naperville in Chicago and Irvine and Northridge, California, will open to the public.
The Amazon Fresh store will continue to offer online shopping services in addition to personal shopping. Amazon says it will offer free same-day delivery for Prime members, and there are also in-store pick-up options for online orders. Customers can pick up orders at a counter in the store, or else by using a “dedicated pick-up parking lot”.
Amazon says the store will use a number of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Capacity will be limited to 50 percent, and both customers and employees will be required to wear face masks in the store. Customers will be offered disposable masks, and staff will check the temperature on a daily basis.
