One of the top suppliers of checkout-free technology for stores is Amazon, whose Just Walk Out stores continue to find new homes in stadiums and arenas. We are joined today by Jon Jenkins, vice president of Just Walk Out for Amazon, to hear about why one of the world’s largest retailers is targeting the stadium-specific concessions marketplace.
Listen in as Jenkins discusses exactly why the trillion-dollar company is interested in the stadium concessions space, and how other related technologies like biometrics and RFID are also helping improve the fan experience around concession transactions. Only on the Stadium Tech Report podcast!
Checkout free concession stands are still the hottest topic in stadium technology these days. Our recent Stadium Connectivity Outlook survey said it was the no. 1 initiative for respondents for 2024. With more than 100 new stores open over the last year, it looks like the trend is not slowing down as we move into 2024.
One of the top suppliers of checkout-free technology for stores is Amazon, whose Just Walk Out stores continue to find new homes in stadiums and arenas. We are joined today by Jon Jenkins, vice president of Just Walk Out for Amazon, to hear about why one of the world’s largest retailers is targeting the stadium-specific concessions marketplace. Listen in as Jenkins discusses exactly why the trillion-dollar company is interested in the stadium concessions space, and how other related technologies like biometrics and RFID are also helping improve the fan experience around concession transactions. Only on the Stadium Tech Report podcast!
Technology that works for fans and for venues
At the start of our conversation, we asked Jenkins what made checkout-free technology such a good fit for stadiums. As a fan himself, Jenkins noted that being able to get back to your seat faster after getting food and drink was a simple positive for any eventgoer.
On the venue owner and operator side, Jenkins provided some statistics from Just Walk Out stores at Lumen Field in Seattle where he said one of the nine Just Walk Out stores there saw an immediate 60 percent increase in customers going through that store compared to the traditional stand that was in the spot previously.
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By the end of the season Jenkins said that same store had an overall 85 percent increase in the number of people going through the store and and over 112 percent increase in sales. “So those are pretty compelling numbers,” Jenkins said. “If you can sell twice as much stuff in a single space, it’s pretty awesome as a store owner.”
Jenkins, who started at Amazon in 2004 working on optimizing the Amazon.com home page, now leads both the technology and marketing teams for the Just Walk Out business, which also includes stores in other places like airports, college campuses and hospitals.
The Just Walk Out technology, which like other checkout-free offerings uses a mix of overhead cameras and shelf sensors to record what customers select as they walk through a store, was born of what he called some “foundational beliefs” inside Amazon about how customers wanted more choices and easier convenience in shopping.
“One of the things people don’t like is standing in line,” Jenkins said. “They didn’t like standing in line in 1924, they don’t like standing in line in 2024 and they won’t like standing in line in 2124.” By taking some long-term views of such issues Jenkins said at Amazon the question came up as “what if we did away with the cash register so there was no line in the store?” Eventually that idea morphed into the Just Walk Out technology, which Jenkins said is successful in “really delighting people” with its ability to tremendously speed up purchase transactions — especially in stadium situtions.
Why is Amazon in the stadium concessions market?
But if there’s a trillion-dollar question, it’s the one asking why a retailing behemoth like Amazon would even pay attention to the stadium-based concessions business, which is a very small niche compared to, say, the Amazon.com website business, which sells just about everything.
While Jenkins said that while Amazon originally developed the Just Walk Out technology for use in its own stores (Amazon has a standalone grocery store business along with owning Whole Foods), it became apparent that other verticals might find good use for it. Stadium concession stands, he added, are a great way for Amazon to get its technology in front of a wide cross-section of customers. Also, the time pressures on stadium concession transactions are also a great fit for the technology and a proof point for being able to deliver under the heavy stress of a halftime break crunch.
Amazon’s successes in the stadium space, Jenkins added, are also informing how similar stores might perform in different situations, such as on college campuses or in hosptials, where in both cases the stores could be accessed by customers over a 24-hour period, with very few or even no staffers around.
“In stadiums we have this really specific value proposition where people are in a big hurry. And we can definitely nail that value proposition and so that’s a great spot for the technology to initially launch.” Jenkins said. “Over time I think we’re going to see Just Walk Out dramatically expand beyond stadiums to hospitals, education, and travel to a whole different bunch of scenarios.”
Amazon One and RFID tech expands the offerings
Our conversation eventually also touched on topics like Amazon One, the biometric solution from Amazon which lets customers use the palm of their hand to authorize payment (and in some cases, age) verification, and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, which Amazon is rolling out in some stadium-based merchandise stores.
From where Jenkins sits, the drive to bring more technology to bear on the historical problem of standing in line is just beginning, with unknown advancements always a possibility. And even as the market sees more competitors arriving with different options, in the end the fan is one of the big beneficiaries, no matter which supplier wins. For now, he sees Amazon pushing the envelope as much as it can.
“Our goal is as long as we can, to create this experience where the person is not standing in line,” Jenkins said. “They’re sailing through the store getting this sort of friction-free experience. We’re going to implement those technologies to make it possible. We will absolutely keep adding more technology to our quiver to enable more sorts of retail scenarios.”
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