Amazon Go has landed in New York City and residents can now enjoy a cashier-less convenience store shopping. Although this is not the first time that Jeff Bezos's company opened this type of store without a cashier to receive payments, this is the first time that a credit card or the Amazon app are not needed when making a purchase.
According to CNN News, Amazon Go stores will now accept cash for more convenience. New York is the 12th location in the U.S. but this is the first store to offer cashier-less shopping that accepts cash money.
It was added that the Amazon Go store is located on the second floor of New York's Brookfield Place mall and it has an area of 1,300 square foot. Customers can buy prepared foods like salads and sandwiches. The Amazon Meal Kits with options of bagels, pastry, and sweets are also available in the store.
There is no cashier but staff will be there to guide the shoppers on how to pay with cash. Of course, using the app and credit card will still be honored too.
Commenting on the availability of different payment options, Cameron Janes, Amazon's vice president of physical store operations told Business Insider, "Adding more payment methods enables more customers to shop in the store. And that's great for customers and great for us."
He added, "We're learning. We're going to see how it goes, iterate on it based on customer feedback, and then eventually roll it out to all our stores."
This new scheme of paying in cash in cashier-less Amazon Go stores was introduced in New York and it was said that branches in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Philadelphia will also be required to accept cash soon.
The Amazon Go in Brookfield Place, New York is expected to become a hit since the location is very near the World Trade Center and surrounded by office spaces. The company is sure that it will especially draw people in during lunch for its high-end food hall. Finally, if everything will go well, Amazon plans to operate as many as 3,000 cashier-less shops by 2021.
"This is how we're starting," Janes said. "We're going to learn from customers on what works and what doesn't work and then iterate and improve it over time."
The opening of Amazon Go in New York was very successful. Customers line up to buy their lunch, snacks and other food items in the store. By noon, it was revealed that more people clamored to enter the outlet even if dozens are still inside.
Meanwhile, Amazon Go may have made the move to have its stores accept cash in response to the ban on cashless stores in several states. As Fox News reported, officials in San Francisco voted to scrap shops that do not accept cash. In the policy, all the store outlets in the city are required to accept cash money as payment for goods and services.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve this measure. The officials cited discrimination against low-income individuals who have no credit cards as the reason for banning cashless establishments.
