Tag Archives: shopping

Amazon Go

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I had the pleasure of visiting Amazon’s HQ in Seattle last week to give a talk on my research. I also got to experience Amazon Go – the new grocery store they have created which has transformed how you purchase goods. You simply sign up, walk in, pick up and walk out. The paying happens automatically in the background. It is perfect for those who are in a rush and need to grab some lunch or a snack. No need to wait again for someone taking for ever deciding what to buy at the deli or fumbling with their purse to pay. ‘Just walk out shopping’ is their slogan.

It is a big step up from the last supermarket innovation of the barking self-checkout machines. Instead of scanning each item, you download the Amazon Go app and then place the QR code that appears on your mobile phone at a turnstile reader that lets you into the store. You are then registered as a customer, enabling you to take anything off the shelves, place it in your pocket or bag and then simply walk out when you have got what you want. Then, seconds after exiting, you get a receipt that itemizes what you took and deducts the amount owing from your Amazon account. It is all done through AI tech.

I thought Amazon’s 1-click ordering for online shopping was very clever at reducing the burden of shopping. But this new-fangled idea of shopping without having to go to a checkout is even more innovative. Except you feel a tad guilty – at least the first time – walking out of the store without the physical action of paying – almost like shoplifting in broad daylight.

So how does the tech do it? Has it stopped shoplifting? Can you trick the system? The smarts are in how the computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning are combined to track you and what you take from a shelf. Look up to the ceiling and you see an array of depth sensor cameras protruding that track you and your arm movements as you move around and lift your arm towards a shelf. The imaging is coupled with what is detected as being removed using weight sensors that are placed on the shelves underneath each item. All pretty clever and reliable. The only time it may get confused is if two people in close proximity put their arm out at the same time, one on top of the other and reach out to a shelf at the same time. It could mistake the arms so that each gets billed for the wrong item. But it is smart enough to know if someone picks something up and put it back down again – even in the wrong place. Unlike the first generation of smart hotel mini-bars that billed you for just opening the fridge and lifting something out to take a look.

There are 17 of these stores now in the US and more being built each month. What next one wonders – if this kind of automated convenience store takes off. Besides revolutionizing how we purchase goods it could be used in other places, such as bars and pubs, removing the need to have to wait in line to buy a drink. You could even pull your own pint – but someone will still have to pick up the dirty glasses afterwards.

Athlete’s Dressing

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Nike’s online and bricks and mortar stores have always been at the leading edge of technological innovation. They have experimented with new cinematic, media user experiences; pioneered customer design, and encouraged users to creatively personalize their own pair of trainers through selecting from a digital palette of options.

We entered their new physical store in the sparkling, mega-shopping mall, Westfield East in the heart of Stratford City, with anticipation. The spacious, two-story, store did not disappoint. It was immaculately dressed – not just the windows but throughout the interior. We were immediately confronted by a cast of larger-than-life, headless male mannequins; clad in tight, white Nike underwear and GB football tops. They were very sexy-looking, triggering a primordial urge to kick a bulging football. The clever marketing people had lined up many brightly, coloured ones in the vicinity.

Ktchung.

Further back in the store, we spotted more headless mannequin models, but this time female, wearing top-to-toe black gear with shocking-pink, running shoes.

They make me want to run very fast.

The sports gear for sale was hanging on dinky things or neatly piled on back-lit surfaces that made you want to touch, hold and wear it. I am not a Nike fan – it would be a bit like mutton dressed as lamb – but after a few minutes of enjoying the eyewear candy, was easily able to see a younger version of myself encased in the latest tick logo, techno-coloured attire. It was all, too, seductive. I commented to one of my companions what a contrast it was from the jumble sale piles that are now commonplace in the cheap and cheerful ‘made in China’ labeled high street shops.

As my eyes continued hoovering the clothing spread, I was surprised by the lack of any TV or other digital screens. We’d noticed how in every other shop there are multiple vivid, large screens embedded in the walls – attracting and luring passers-by with swaggering, pouting beauties. Nike seems to have gone retro: letting its tops, bottoms and shoes walk the talk.

Having feasted on the first floor, we rode up the steep yellow-lit escalator for dessert. Our by now, large-pupil-ed eyes were drawn to an enormous cloud of bright orange shoe boxes, hanging at different heights over the edge of the escalator – they glowed in semi-darkness, giving you a warm feeling.

I eventually turned around, and at last spotted two tiny touch screens, discreetly placed on a back wall, next to a modest-sized flat screen, that flashed up images of Nike running gear. A direct feed from their website; blurring clicks and mortar. We walked up to them and behaved like toddlers; finger-tipping the screen, assuming it was us that were cycling through the images of watches, runners and visualizations.

Out of the blue, a human being appeared besides us, wearing a big badge saying ‘Athlete Michael’. It seemed as if he had just transmogrified from our screens, clad in the latest Nike running gear – black tights, baggy shorts, pyro-technic trainers and an assortment of layered, lurid tunics and vests. We all stared at him, fixated by his badge, wondering if he was really real and who he was. He began by patiently explaining how nearly every Nike running shoe now has a chip in it and when Blue-toothed to a wristwatch transforms the running experience. This unlikely combo has become a huge success among joggers and runners over the years; enabling them to see on the go how many calories they are burning, number of steps taken, and, with the deluxe-iPod GPS combo – even the route taken, when they are slowing down or speeding up, how much sweat they are dripping, etc.

Athlete Michael got into his stride, as we cooed and nodded, marveling at Nike. He liked the wristwatch best because he can see at a glance how many x’s he is doing and how it is really easy to download this onto the Nike running website and see how his x’s are faring compared with the rest of the world’s Nike joggers.

For some reason, I was reminded of the TV commercial for UK’s Directory Enquiries service 118 118, that features men parodying different sports gear costumes to the Ghostbuster’s tune.

Rather than walking away Niked, I was left with an irritating ditty repeating itself in my head. Maybe a big video screen might have worked better on me.