- The newest locations at NFL stadium stores brings the technology to more than 80 sports stadiums
- Stores at college and university campuses opening this fall bring the number of stores on college campuses to more than 30 worldwide
Amazon is promoting the expansion of there Just Walk Out stores at U.S. football stadiums and college campus as their years kickoff.
The Seattle-based company is more than doubling the number of stores in 2024 than any year before, allowing NFL fans and college students to grab what they need and walk out of new Amazon Just Walk Out. In total, there are 180 third-party locations, including airports, stadiums, universities, and hospitals in the U.S., UK, Australia, and Canada.
Fourteen artificial intelligence-powered Just Walk Out new stores opened as NFL teams hosted their season kickoff games last weekend. And the expansion on campuses will bring the shopping technology to more than 30 university stores worldwide.
Use of AI, RFID
Just Walk Out technology first debuted in 2018 with the first Amazon Go convenience store in Seattle. It uses AI, a lot of cameras and some sensors to enable shoppers to grab what they want and leave without stopping at a cash register.
The process for each store varies, but the technology allows customers to walk into a store and either insert or tap a credit card at the entry gate. Then customers grab what they want and leave the store. The payment method is automatically charged.
Some Just Walk Out stores, such as a new Seattle Seahawks merchandise store at Lumen Field, are RFID-enabled and each item has a sensor on a tag, which registers the purchase instead of cameras. Customers use their credit card for payment on their way out of the store.
NFL Expansion
The expansion comes as Amazon has improved its Just Walk Out technology this year, the new multi-modal foundation model represents the latest innovation in checkout-free shopping, according to company officials.
For its partnership with NFL stadium, six new stores will open at Lumen Field, seven stores at Northwest Stadium, the home of the Washington Commanders outside of Washington, D.C., and the first store opening at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Lumen Field, where the first Just Walk Out stores was launched in 2022, has the most of any venue with 15.
The longer a Just Walk Out store has been around, the better it has performed, said Amazon officials.
Better Performance
The Lumen Field first store saw a 60 percent increase in customers and total transactions per game doubled in 2022, compared to the traditional concession stand that was at the same location. By the end of the season in early 2023, transactions per game at that location increased 85 percent and total sales per game increased 112 percent.
“That’s a very positive sign,” Jon Jenkins, vice president of Just Walk Out at Amazon Web Services said. “The longer these stores stay open, the better they seem to perform as users learn how to use them.”
At Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, the concessions store powered by Just Walk Out had the highest volume in halftime revenue as well as growing 50 percent over the previous year, with fans spending less than a minute in the store, Amazon officials said.
The newest NFL stadium stores bring the technology to more than 80 sports stadiums, including basketball, hockey and soccer stadiums and arenas across the U.S., UK, Australia, and Canada. Included in that list are such notable field and arenas as United Center and Wrigley Field in Chicago, Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Ohio Stadium at The Ohio State University and Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
On Campus
The ten new Just Walk Out-enabled stores at college and university campuses this fall bring the number of stores on college campuses to more than 30 worldwide. They include Emory University, University of Maine, University of Virginia, Loyola University Maryland–Sellinger School of Business and Management, Endicott University in Massachusetts, Lindenwood University in Missouri, Ursinus College in Pennsylvania and Texas Christian University.
Existing campus stores include Sussex University in the U.K., the University of Miami, University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Penn State.
On campuses, students like the ability to grab food or items at any time of night and have picked up quickly on the process, said Jenkins.
“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.