Amazon Grocery Store Concept to Open in Seattle in Early 2017

By Laura Stevens 

Amazon.com Inc. said Monday it plans to open Amazon Go, its first small-format grocery store, to the public early next year in its hometown of Seattle.

The roughly 1,800-square-foot store, which resembles a convenience store-format in a video Amazon released, features artificial intelligence-powered technology that eliminates checkouts and cash registers. Instead, customers scan their phone on a kiosk as they walk in, and Amazon automatically determines what items customers take from the shelves. After leaving the store, Amazon charges their account for the items and sends a receipt.

"Our checkout-free shopping experience is made possible by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning," the company adds.

Amazon Go is part of the company's broader effort to move into brick-and-mortar groceries to capture a bigger piece of food sales, one of the few types of shopping that remains predominantly in-store. Amazon has been exploring concepts -- known internally as Project Como -- involving both curbside pickup and small-format stores, hoping to grab a bigger piece of the market and to better compete with rivals such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Grocery sales may be crucial to Amazon's growth because Americans restock their refrigerators each week, something that could provide opportunities to sell more profitable items alongside cheese and chocolate.

Until now, Amazon has centered its grocery strategy around Amazon Fresh, a subscription service that promises quick food delivery for online orders.

Amazon Go will sell ready-to-eat meals, snack options and grocery staples like bread and milk, according to Amazon. In addition, the store will offer chef-designed "Amazon Meal Kits," which will provide the ingredients to cook a meal for two in a half-hour.

Amazon says on its website that the new store, located in downtown Seattle near its headquarters, is already open to its employees, and that it will open to the public early next year.

Write to Laura Stevens at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 05, 2016 12:46 ET (17:46 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.