Customers carry their purchases as they leave the U.K.’s first branch of Amazon Fresh in the Ealing area of London, England, March 4, 2021.
Leon Neal | Getty Images
Amazon on Tuesday announced a new version of its cashierless checkout system, allowing customers to buy clothing without having to wait in line.
The updated version of the company’s Just Walk Out system incorporates radio-frequency identification, or RFID, technology, and each item in a store will feature an RFID tag. After users take an item off the shelf, they’ll exit the store, and the tags will be picked up by an RFID reader, automatically charging their credit card on file.
Until now, Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology has relied on an array of ceiling-mounted cameras that track which items shoppers pick up in the store. Avery Dennison, a materials science and digital identification company, built the RFID technology, according to Amazon.
If retailers adopt the technology, it could mark a significant expansion for Amazon’s Just Walk Out system. So far, the technology has primarily been limited to tracking purchases at grocery and convenience stores.
Since its launch in 2018, Amazon has deployed Just Walk Out across a growing number of store formats, including its Fresh supermarkets and some Whole Foods locations. It also sells the technology to third-party retailers in airports, stadiums and theme parks, among other venues.
Amazon said it has been conducting trials of the new Just Walk Out system with RFID built in at its Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, as well as at the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks’ Lumen Field.
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