Amazon Go is nearing the finish line (AMZN)

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "E-Commerce Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.Amazon Go stores, which allow customers to pick up their items, walk out, and have their Amazon accounts automatically charged, is nearing the end of its testing phase, Bloombergreports.In the stores, shoppers will scan their smartphones upon arrival, and then cameras, shelf sensors, and algorithms will automatically identify which items the shoppers walk out with. Consumers' Amazon accounts will then be charged accordingly, eliminating the checkout process entirely.The technology has performed well in some of Amazons more extreme testsfor example, when three Amazon employees went into one of the stores while wearing Pikachu costumes and picked up some items, the technology assigned each product to the right employee and charged them correctly, which is promising for the technologys future capabilities.The technology is still having difficulties, however, and Amazon must work out the kinks quickly because it has competition.Amazon Go was previouslydelayedbecause it couldnt handle more than 20 people in the store at once, and it's currently struggling with accurately charging groups of people shopping together, like families. The e-commerce giant is surely hard at work to fix the technologys issues, but it should work quickly, as there's already a startupofferingsimilar technology, providing a clear challenge to Amazon Go.To receive stories like this one directly to your inbox every morning, sign up for the E-Commerce Briefing newsletter.Click here to learn more about how you can gain risk-free access today.Join the conversation about this story
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