The future is coming to a grocery store near you. In 2017, Amazon has plans to roll out a brand new kind of store front. They are calling it Amazon Go. This technology will completely revolutionize the way we shop!

Imagine no lines. No cashiers. No need to check out at all. You simply enter the store, connect to an app on your phone, and fill your cart as you normally would. When your list is complete, you leave.

Wait. What?! Yeah, that was my reaction too. You mean I just leave the store without paying? I never have to interact with anyone? It’s like an introvert’s dream!

With Amazon’s new technology your app will know exactly what you’ve picked up, what you put in your cart, and what you put back on the shelf. As you leave the store, it will automatically tally your bill and apply your credit card. Boom. Done.

This is an interesting new business model. No longer will there be a need to employ front line employees to handle customer service or cashiering. At least not as many as a store would have needed in the past. This new staffing model will change the future job landscape. What happens when there are less jobs available in retail? Not to mention there would be a tremendous savings to the company’s bottom line. Lower salary cost. Lower benefits and overhead. From a company standpoint it would appear they can’t go wrong!

What about the impact to you, the shopper? It would mean 99% self service. Get in and out as quickly as you want. Buy anything without judgement. Save time as you will never stand in a line again. Interaction with other people will be virtually non existent. How will future generations ever learn to engage in small talk with a complete stranger?

This would be a first step in moving towards a money-less society. Imagine not really knowing what you had spent at the store until much later. It would be too easy to just over indulge and buy on impulse. The wake up call you get at the register as the amount climbs would no longer exist. It could really change the way we think about budgeting.

Currently Amazon is still in testing phase with their employees. The first grocery store is slated to hit Seattle in 2017. If it is a success, they plan to roll it out as a convenience store model. Then, who knows?! We could be living in a very different world come 2020. The future has arrived. 

feature image via YouTube