Amazon may open six more Go stores in 2018

After debuting its cashier-less store in Seattle on Jan. 22 and offering customers a shopping experience which allows them to grab what they need and ‘just walk out’, Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Amazon plans to open six more Go stores in 2018. The new stores are planned to open in Los Angeles and Seattle.

At Amazon’s flagship Go store in Seattle, customers download an app to their Smartphones to enter, after which cameras, sensors and other technology track their shopping to observe items they pick up, which are then added to a digital cart. Customers are billed after they leave the store with their purchases. If they want to make any returns, they just hit a ‘refund’ button on their Smartphones to remove the item, but do not have to return the item to the store.

Recode reported people familiar with the company’s plans revealed Amazon was in serious talks with Los Angeles billionaire developer Rick Caruso about bringing a Go store to The Grove, a 600,000-square-foot outdoor shopping location. However, Amazon has declined to comment.

The Go stores make shopping at physical stores more convenient by doing away with long lines at checkout, however, the format raises concerns for grocery store employees. Competitors such as Walmart are also exploring technologies that reduce dependencies on cashiers.