Sample our exclusive Business Briefing contentĪnother great feature of the store was that, instead of the usual wire mesh baskets, which are usually heavy, uncomfortable, and possibly a public health violation, the supermarket offered customers complimentary paper bags or a textile one for £1. Although they heavily resembled CCTV cameras, they were actually depth- and motion sensors, responsible for finding out what item you chose, how many pieces, for how much, and whether you decide to bag it and walk out with it, or maybe place it back on the shelf.Īmazon: How to build a successful business
However, the pleasant first impression was very quickly shattered once you looked up: Above your head, the ceiling was swarmed with dozens of black, boxy apparati. The interior was clean and well-lit, with an overall welcoming feeling to it. And then, it was all like any mid-sized supermarket in London, such as Tesco Metro or a smaller M&S. As I entered, I was asked to open the Amazon app on my phone, select the shopping cart, then the Fresh Code tab, and let the gate at the entry of the store scan the QR code displayed on my phone’s screen. The staff also reassured me that, although there wouldn’t be any facial recognition involved, the store was powered by some “deep artificial intelligence”.īy the time I was asked to wait for a red light at the door to turn green in order to be allowed in, the experience was already surreal enough. I was told that, after I finish shopping, I could just leave the store and the payment would take between four minutes to an hour to process, after which I would receive a receipt in my email inbox. No, I didn’t have to keep my mobile data switched on. In the meantime, I managed to quiz the supermarket’s employees about the details of my shopping trip. However, despite the length of the line being rather intimidating, it moved at a satisfactory pace and I was at the entrance in less than 10 minutes. A few moments later, I was greeted by a 300 ft long queue of potential Fresh customers who probably also decided to sneak out of work early to try to avoid the peak shopping hours.
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