I remember the time when my ex-colleague gave a talk on BI/DW during the year 2000. He was talking about how retail companies are making use of it etc. He quoted an example: How retail outlets are placing nappies & beer bottles next to each other to see the sales soar on Friday evenings. He talked about how shoppers are saving time & reminded of some items (nappies).
He also spoke about how Amazon was using tech to recommend products to buyers then. “People who bought this item also bought……”.
We have come a long way. Let’s talk about saving time.
Enter “Amazon Go”.
A checkout-free store. What? Yes, there’s no checkout. You can just steal the items from the store. 🙂 Jus’ kidding. You pick up the items and walk through exit where your account will be debited for the products in your cart or bag.
Tech used: computer vision, sensor fusion & deep learning, much like self driving cars.
Amazon calls it “Just walk out technology”.
When you’re done shopping, you can just leave the store. Your amazon account will be debited & you’ll be sent a receipt.
If buyers get accustomed to this tech, they might be booked for shoplifting when they go to other stores that do not use such hightech & they walkout without billing. 🙂
#retailtech #innovation #technology
