Inside an Amazon Go Store: What I Didn’t Know I Wanted and How Jeff Bezos Answered
Retail is changing. Stores are closing. Yet, consumers keep buying … just differently.
In 2007, when I started buying diapers for baby No. 2 from Amazon.com, I didn’t fully realize the significance of this early shift in my personal buying habits.
Inside an Amazon Go store in New York City in February 2020.
Jeff Bezos, the 56-year-old Amazon founder and Washington Post owner, is the Frank Woolworth and Henry Ford of our time. Bezos has turned retail upside down since selling his first book online in 1995.
My recent visit to a nearly empty (and soon to be closed) Sears store in Richmond, Va., in search of a new light fixture was a harsh and alarming reminder about the slow and painful death of America’s mall. My first reaction to the overpriced and random merchandise was to price compare on my iPhone.
Sears (and other retailers) clearly didn’t get it.
Amazon did (and does).
A Sears store preparing to close in Richmond, Va., in January 2020.
What I didn’t even know I wanted
You see Bezos and his army of nearly 800,000 employees routinely bring products and services to consumers, like me, long before we even know what we want.
I didn’t know I wanted to buy a gift on my iPod touch.
I didn’t know I wanted to stream free movies.
I didn’t know I wanted to push a button on an Amazon Dash stick to reorder toothpaste.
I didn’t know I wanted to “subscribe and save” on Brawny, so I could avoid that big cart thing at Costco.
I didn’t know I wanted Alexa and her smart friends to inform and entertain me with news, jokes and music.
I didn’t know I wanted to get stuff delivered in two hours. Thanks, Amazon Prime Now.
I didn’t know I wanted to return Amazon merchandise to my local Kohl’s.
However, I DID know I wanted to see an Amazon Go store in Manhattan last weekend.
The lesson for communicators is to continue helping your clients and employers prepare for the Amazon effect, even if they’re not in the retail business. If Amazon hasn’t affected your business yet, it likely will.
Ask yourself, “What can we do now to better meet our customers’ changing needs before they even know what they want?”
Inside an Amazon Go is like looking into the future
My family sought out the Amazon Go store under Rockefeller Center like it was a tourist attraction.
An Amazon Go is like a micro market that operates with hundreds of cameras and sensors positioned to calculate purchases.
Our girls – 18, 15, and 12 – were intrigued … like the first time Alexa turned off the den lights.
Visiting an Amazon Go store was like seeing my neighbor back her self-driving Tesla out of a tight parking spot using her iPhone. Did I really just see that?
Our visit was short, efficient and eye-opening! No lines. No clerks. No problems.
Within the small store, the size of a 7-Eleven, the one friendly clerk working patiently helped me scan a hidden QR code on my Amazon app.
As my wife and girls studied the refrigerated cases of drinks, snacks and prepared foods, I looked up. Cameras and sensors were everywhere. I’m sure Amazon computers were crunching all kinds of algorithms about our suburban family. I thought, “I bet they have our headshots.” Then, I remembered Amazon Photos already had about 200,000 family photos since I pay them $59 a year to store them in their cloud.
The Amazon Go prices were fair – just 99 cents for the bubly® seltzer I picked up – but at the last second, I put it back and grabbed another brand. I wanted to show those Amazon robots that I was in charge!
My youngest held up her pack of gum in the aisle like she was Rafiki holding up Simba on Pride Rock in “The Lion King.” She wanted the cameras to see the gum before she put it in the free reusable bag. We walked out and everything within the bag magically charged to our credit card.
There are only 25 Amazon Go stores so far, but I’m ready for one in Richmond.
Jonathan Rhudy embraces technology and the convenience of buying online, but as a small business owner himself, he strives to support other family-run businesses and local retailers.