Is Just Walk Out Really "Just Keeping Track"

While cashier-less transactions have the potential to transform retail (especially in the convenience, drug and grocery segments), I believe the analytical potential has been underappreciated. Furthermore, consider that some sort of scalable analytical capability is needed as a prerequisite for truly personalized in-store digital experiences. Just Walk Out (and similar technologies) create a technical capability to firstly understand — at scale — how individual shoppers behave in store and creates the data to actually enable personalized services to that shopper.

This has obvious applications to retailers, and brands should pay close attention to this as well. Certainly, brands and retailers have mutual interest in creating great shopper experiences. We also envision early implementations of this type of technology on limited sections of the store, such as observation-only implementations of Just Walk Out. For example, Tyson and QVC may be mutually interested in understanding how this applies within the deli aisle. The insights gathered could fuel better shopper experiences. There are also implications on shelf management and inventory management as this technology could improve measurement of in-store inventory. One could imagine a more just-in-time model, where store inventory is lower and more frequently replenished based on demand, while more inventory is maintained at a local/micro fulfillment center that holds stock for fulfillment of online orders as well as replenishment of smaller stores.

As retailers and brands continually press for the store-of-the-future or the shopping-experience-of-the-future, I believe this technology can play an interesting role.