Microsoft Tinkers With Cashier-less Technology

The company has been working on ways for customers to bypass checkout lines.

June 15, 2018

SAN FRANCISCO – Microsoft Corp. has been working on technology that would allow customers to skip the checkout line—similar to Amazon Go, Reuters reports. The system tracks shopping cart contents. Microsoft has been in talks with retailers across the world, including Walmart, about the sample technology.

Microsoft wants to help retailers not get left behind by Amazon Go, especially as it’s set to open new stores in San Francisco and Chicago. “This is the future of checking out for convenience and grocery stores,” said Gene Munster, head of research at Loup Ventures in Minneapolis.

While Microsoft didn’t officially comment on the technology, Reuters spoke with people familiar with it. The computer company highlights automatic checkout at its Retail Experience Center in its headquarters office. Microsoft has teamed up with at least six other companies, including AVA Retail, that are currently exploring cashier-less or similar services in Microsoft’s cloud.

Microsoft also has been working on cameras in shopping carts to record customer purchases as well as thinking up new ways for smartphone use in shopping. “It’s a really hard problem,” said Scott Jacobson, managing director of Madrona Venture Group, of checkout-free shopping. But it’s “one that Amazon is uniquely positioned to solve.”

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