More NFL fans and university students in Seattle, Washington and Baltimore will be able to skip the checkout lines with the help of AI-enabled Just Walk Out technology from Amazon.
This fall, Amazon rolls out its contactless checkout technology to new locations, including six new stores at Lumen Field in Seattle, seven stores at Commanders Field outside of Washington D.C., and the first autonomous store at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. This way, Just Walk Out technology will be available in more than 80 sports stadiums and arenas across the U.S., UK, Australia, and Canada.
The e-commerce giant also brings its innovative technology to more college campuses. Following the expansion, the total number of university stores powered by Just Walk Out technology worldwide will be more than 30.
The expansion of the manless checkout solution to more stadium stores is very timely. Just last season, NFL game attendance reached a peak of nearly 19 million fans visiting sports venues to support their teams. Long lines at the checkout are the main complaint of modern consumers who are used to speedier and more convenient shopping experiences at different types of stores and malls.
Lumen Field, which can host more than 38,000 fans for NFL games, will open five new traditional Just Walk Out concessions stores and one radio-frequency identification (RFID)-enabled contactless checkout store. The latter expands the checkout-free experience to clothing, hats, fan gear, and other items. In total, the innovation-friendly stadium will now host 15 Just Walk Out locations, more than any other venue in the world.
Lumen Field is one of the first locations to test the benefits of Just Walk Out technology. In 2022, the first store of this type brought the venue a 60% increase in customer throughput and a double growth of the total transactions per game compared to the traditional concession stand. By the end of the season in early 2023, transactions per game in that location increased even more – by 85%, while total sales per game increased by 112%.?
Hard Rock Stadium in Miami also witnessed significant growth in sales and customer throughput due to the checkout-free experience. Besides, the venue noted that fans visiting the games there were getting in and out in record time. The average shopping session lasted below one minute.
As for educational establishments, universities like Emory University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Maine, and the University of Virginia are also opening new stores with Amazon Just Walk Out technology.
Nina Bobro
Nina is passionate about financial technologies and environmental issues, reporting on the industry news and the most exciting projects that build their offerings around the intersection of fintech and sustainability.
