Amazon is expanding their AmazonGo cashierless stores by an amount you’d only expect from the retailer. Within the next three years, the company is planning to open 3,000 of these stores, which, according to Bloomberg, could mean a lot of trouble for convenience stores and fast food restaurants.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos believes that the best way to revolutionize the shopping experience is to reduce the lines that occur during meal times, especially in fast food places where people go on their lunch breaks. According to insiders, Amazon still doesn’t know which direction to take. One of the options would be to build cashierless convenience stores, while another would be to build healthy fast food oriented spots for people who are in a rush.
Amazon plans to target populated areas that skew younger, betting that they’d spend a little more money for healthy food served quickly. “The key to success will be convenient locations. If it’s a quarter mile from where people are walking and biking, the novelty of the technology won’t matter. It’s too far away,” says Jeff Lenard, vice president of industry group NACS. If Amazon were to follow through on their plan, chains like Subway, Pret-A-Manger, and Panera Bread would be facing a lot of competition.
There’s currently four AmazonGo stores in the U.S., each requiring the use of the Amazon app. Once users have scanned their phones, they can take whatever items and groceries they want and leave without wasting any time on a cash register. The stores feature salads, sandwiches, snacks and a small selection of groceries, with Amazon relying on convenience instead of variety.
