ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Amazon announced that it will begin sharing data with brands and advertisers about the performance of their products, promotions, and ad campaigns in Just Walk Out technology and Amazon Dash Cart-enabled Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores in the U.S., according to a blog post by the company.
“These insights will help those same stores continuously improve the shopper experience by making the store layout easier for shoppers to find their favorite items and discover new ones, improving selection and availability of products, and delivering great value through relevant promotions and advertising,” wrote Amazon.
The effort, which Amazon is calling Store Analytics, helps brands know the details on how their products are discovered, considered and purchased. Through a dashboard, brands will have access to aggregated and anonymized data about how their products rank and perform.
Advertisers will be able to access associated performance metrics in their ad campaign reports.
“These data-driven Store Analytics insights allow brands to better understand the path to purchase for their products, helping them to evolve and refine their assortment, merchandising, and advertising over time,” wrote Amazon.
The data the Amazon shares though its Store Analytics platform will only be aggregated, anonymized data, meaning that what is shared with brands is presented as a grouping and does not contain any personal information. Amazon doesn’t provide any information about the individual shopper but does show totals, averages and percentages about product, promotion and ad campaign performance. An example Amazon uses is the percentage of how often a product was taken off the shelf and then purchased either during that store visit or later on Amazon.com.
If shoppers do not want their data shared, even if it is aggregated and anonymized, they can opt out and still use Just Walk Out technology and Amazon Dash Carts.
Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology allows customers to enter the store using their palm, a code on their phone or their credit card. Sensors and cameras note what customers take out of the store and charges their account when they exit.
The Dash Cart keeps track of items as they go into the cart. Customers can then skip the line and exit through the store’s Amazon Dash Cart lane, where sensors automatically identify the cart, and the payment is processed using the credit card on the customer’s Amazon account.
(Self-checkout technology has come a long way, but there is still room for improvements. Here’s how to successfully launch self-checkout in your business.)
Amazon is opening locations in the New York City metro area, and there are at least 30 Amazon Fresh stores across California, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington state and Washington, D.C.
Early this year, Amazon announced it is planning to open more Amazon Go stores in America’s suburbs with larger footprints at around 3,200 to 6,000 square feet, compared with the urban Amazon Go stores, which are 450 to 2,700 square feet.
In March, Amazon announced it would close all 68 of its brick-and-mortar bookstores, pop-ups and shops in the U.S. and U.K. Amazon said the move will allow it to focus on its grocery stores, Amazon Go convenience stores and a department store concept.