(UPDATE: According to a new blog post from Amazon, the merchandise store uses RFID technology to provide information on clothing and other soft items. Details have been added below.) The Seattle Seahawks announced that they have added four more Amazon “Just Walk Out” checkout-free concession stands to Lumen Field, along with one temporary merchandise store that uses RFID technology to process checkouts.
The four new regular concession stands getting Amazon’s checkout-free technology brings the total of such stores at Lumen Field to eight, the most Amazon-powered stores in a single venue. Checkout-free market leader Zippin, by comparison, has 10 Zippin-powered stores at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, and nine stores at Empower Field at Mile High, though the Denver facility is expected to announce even more checkout-free stands before the NFL season begins.
While the Amazon concession stands will no doubt gain favor from fans who are looking to get concessions quickly, the interesting item in the Lumen Field additions is the merchandise store, which Amazon says uses Just Walk Out technology but doesn’t appear to function as a regular checkout-free store. Unlike other deployments, which use overhead cameras and shelf sensors throughout the store area to link purchase items to customers, the photos of “The Pro Shop Outlet” at Lumen Field seem to show a kind of pop-up store where merchandise is offered on moveable racks that are placed in what looks like an empty concourse area. According to an Amazon blog posted in September, the retail store uses RFID technology, not cameras and shelf sensors, to identify prices and items.
While at normal Just Walk Out stores customers scan a credit card or wave their palm over an Amazon One device to gain entry, the new merchandise store at Lumen Field does not appear to have any entry gating technology at all. Instead, it appears that once fans have selected items for purchase, they need to walk through a small tent which looks like it has cameras installed overhead and Just Walk Out gates at the end. Apparently this is also where the RFID tags are read (Amazon and the Seahawks did not provide exact details on how the store technology works, and neither the team nor Amazon has replied to information requests.).
Since the store doesn’t quite live up to the Amazon brand name — fans aren’t just “walking out,” but instead stopping to use a checkout technology — we aren’t counting it as a true Just Walk Out store. (Taylor Soper at GeekWire in Seattle visited the store, this link is worth a read to get his impressions.)
Right now, the four new deployments push Amazon’s total stadium-related store number to 46, trailing market leader Zippin, which has 66 stadium stores. We expect this number to change soon for all checkout-free providers as more NFL stadium announcements emerge.
