Amazon’s ‘Just Walk Out’ technology will survive company shutdown, minus palm scanning
Amazon’s free “Just Walk Out” payment technology will continue to work at hundreds of independent stores after the company discontinued its Amazon One palm-recognition service in June, but customers will need to use a card or tap a phone to pay instead of scanning their hand.
Amazon confirmed the program Monday in response to a GeekWire inquiry based on a question from an interested reader who frequents Seattle sports arenas and stadiums where Just Walk Out technology is used to get food and drink.
According to Amazon, the palm scanning machines will remain in Just Walk Out locations, but the feature will be disabled. Other payment methods at those stores, including credit and debit cards and mobile wallets, will continue to work.
The company announced last week that it will discontinue Amazon One on June 3, citing “limited customer acceptance” of the biometric authentication service. The move coincided with Amazon’s decision to close all 72 of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores.
Just Walk Out technology, which uses cameras and sensors to allow customers to grab items and leave without waiting in a checkout line, has debuted in Amazon Go stores.
But separate from its first-party operations, Amazon licenses the system to third-party vendors, arenas, hospitals, and other locations, with more than 360 locations in five countries.
Amazon One started in 2020 and was not part of Just Walk Out when it launched in Amazon Go stores in 2018. However, palm scanning technology became a signature feature of the app after launch, especially as Just Walk Out expanded into third-party locations.
Amazon One has also independently implemented Just Walk Out for easy checkout. Most notably, Amazon has outsourced more than 500 Whole Foods stores by 2023. The technology has drawn private concerns, including a backlash from artists at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado in 2022, after ticketing company AXS announced it would use Amazon One for its infrastructure.
In mid-January, just two weeks before Amazon One was announced to be discontinued, the company proposed an expansion of Just Walk Out, announcing new mobile RFID payment lanes that could be deployed during store hours and at pop-up events.
Amazon said the technology processed 36.7 million items in 17.7 million shopping sessions last year, with big posts including the new Nissan Stadium in Nashville, where all concessions will be made at Just Walk Out.
The company cited results that included a 47% increase in sales per game at Seattle’s Lumen Field, wait times dropping from 25 minutes to three minutes at BayCare’s St. Joseph’s Hospital in Florida, and an 83% reduction in shoplifting at UC San Diego.
