By Todd Bishop and Alan Boyle
As an online retail giant, Amazon can use its engineering prowess and the vast capabilities of the digital world to track and analyze how customers use its site.
So it’s only natural that the company, in its first brick-and-mortar convenience store, would want to create a real-world version of the same thing.
The new Amazon Go store logs customers in when they walk through the door, knows instantly when they pick an item up from the shelf, automatically tallies what they put in their carts or shopping bags, uses past purchases to improve their shopping experience, and automatically charges their accounts when they walk out — no need for checkout lines — making it nearly frictionless to buy something.
In short, it’s a physical manifestation of Amazon.com.
