Amazon launches Dash Cart to let shoppers skip the checkout line

Dash Cart - Image of AmazonGo

The ecommerce and tech giant is moving forward with its smart shopping carts experience.

Amazon is moving ahead with a new Dash Cart smart shopping cart technology. This is meant to help further along the company’s ongoing effort to help shoppers to skip the checkout line and to create a contactless and cashier-free experience for consumers.

The smart shopping cart is one of many different types of strategy the company has made in this area.

The Dash Cart is the latest attempt at this strategy after the company has already used various types of mobile commerce technology for a shopping experience that jumps the checkout line. It has already attempted some of these technologies in its own stores, for use by company employees only.

However, the new smart shopping carts will be deployed at a new Los Angeles, California Amazon grocery store. According to a CNBC report, the technology involves the use of sensors, embedded cameras and a smart display. This allows the shopping carts to keep track of the shopper’s order and to display it for them to ensure accuracy.

The Dash Cart is the latest cashierless technology the company is using in its Amazon Go stores.

That cashierless tech has been in place in various forms for the last two years at the Amazon Go shops.

To use the new smart shopping carts, shoppers will need to have an Amazon account. Moreover, it remains based on mobile commerce technology. Therefore, the shoppers must also have their phones with them and be willing to wirelessly connect them to the carts to be able to use them.

To start shopping, the consumer uses their phone to scan a QR code in the Amazon app. This signs them on to the individual cart they are using. Moreover, it also tracks the items that they place into their bags in the cart, displaying each one on the smart screen as they go. When the shoppers remove their bags and leave the store, the checkout process is automatically completed through the app.

The Dash Cart will force retailers to take a second look at the cashierless concepts they are using and will encourage them to experiment with new tech, said GK Software USA CEO Michael Jaszczyk. “In doing so, its important that retailers find the technology that fits well within their retail format and Dash Cart - Image of AmazonGounique shoppers’ needs,” he said, adding that though the tech is meant for small-sized or mid-sized shopping orders, “there are other challenges that must be solved for customers with long grocery lists.”

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