Amazon plans to bring its Just Walk Out check-out technology to 10 additional United States college campuses, bringing the total number of campus stores using the technology worldwide to more than 30.
The new U.S. schools joining Amazon’s Just Walk Out ecosystem are Emory University; University of Maine; Loyola University Maryland – Sellinger School of Business and Management; Endicott University; Lindenwood University; Ursinus College; Texas Christian University; and the University of Virginia. Two other schools have not yet been announced by the company.
According to an interview with USA Today, Jon Jenkins, vice president of Just Walk Out at Amazon Web Services, said Amazon has improved its Just Walk Out technology this year. He noted that the new Just Walk Out multi-modal foundation model “represents the latest in checkout-free shopping.”
“Amazon has said it will launch more Just Walk Out stores in 2024 than any year before, more than doubling the number of stores. Jenkins said the company has not given a specific number beyond saying it would more than double locations,” USA Today reported.
Jenkins noted that students like the ability to grab foods or items at any time and have quickly picked up on the checkout-free process. "I guess it shouldn't be surprising to us that students picked up on this really quickly, but the speed at which they are seeming to adopt the technology is really exciting," he said.
In addition to college campuses, the Just Walk Out technology is rolling out to numerous NFL stadiums, including six new stores at Lumen Field in Seattle, seven stores at Northwest Stadium outside of Washington, D.C. and the first store opening at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland.
One of Lumen Field’s new stores will have radio-frequency identification (RFID) enabled, which enables the checkout-free experience to expand to clothing, hats, fan gear and more.
According to Amazon, during the 2022 season, Lumen Field’s first Just Walk Out store saw a 60% increase in customer throughput and the total transactions per game double compared to the traditional concession stand that was previously in the same location.
This spring, it was revealed that Amazon is removing Just Walk Out from its Amazon Fresh grocery stores.
NACS featured Amazon’s “Walk-Off Market” at T-Mobile Park in Seattle in 2022. NACS will debut 7 new Ideas 2 Go videos on October 8 at the NACS Show.