Amazon’s checkout-free Go stores may be coming to some US airports

Airports are busy places and queues can be long at various points, so the news that Amazon’s checkout-free Go stores may be coming to US airports is likely to be welcomed. How it works is that users of the service scan their smartphones on entry to the retail outlet’s convenience stores and make their selections. Amazon Go’s cameras and sensors then track the customer’s choices, and after they exit the store without having to go through a cashier, it subsequently bills their credit cards for their purchases, saving them time by skipping the normal checkout process.

According to a Reuters’ report, Amazon Go has been in contact with some US airports to discuss the opening of new cashier-less locations within them. This will be good news for harried passengers grappling with the rush to board flights, make connections and clear security. It has been reported that the online giant has made a connection with Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), San Jose International Airport (SJC) and Dallas Fort Worth International (DFW) about the possibility of introducing the Amazon Go convenience stores there.

Amazon Go has seven locations in Seattle and Chicago and San Francisco, and will shortly start it service in New York. Plans are also apparently afoot for the technology to be implemented on a full-sized supermarket. Potential challenges to the company opening at airport locations include the many security clearances that would be required, and the fact that some airports can require competitive public bids for retail space.

Nonetheless, airports sound like the perfect locations for the high-tech service, because anything that speeds up the process of getting through them and makes the experience more seamless is to be welcomed.

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