Dive Brief:
- Retail food and beverage distributor Star Concessions has opened Grab & Fly, a convenience store at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) that’s powered by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology.
- Grab & Fly lets customers select their preferred items and leave without having to wait in checkout lines. The company was drawn to the technology because of the “fast and frictionless experience it enables,” said Gilbert Aranza, president of Star Concessions.
- Grab & Fly is the latest airport c-store to use Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, following a Hudson Nonstop store at Chicago Midway International Airport that debuted last summer.
Dive Insight:
Grab & Fly offers cold drinks, snacks, travel accessories, electronics, souvenirs and other products. To shop at the store, customers simply insert their credit card at the entry gate. Once inside, anything they take off the shelf is automatically added to their virtual cart, and anything they put back on the shelf gets removed. After finishing their shopping trip and leaving the store, their credit card will be charged for the items they took.
Although there’s no traditional checkout, associates will still be available in the store to help customers and keep the shelves stocked. This is the norm with all businesses that use Just Walk Out technology, Amazon has said.
Besides the new Grab & Fly, Star Concessions also operates two Shell service stations at DFW International Airport. Each is equipped with 10 fuel pumps and includes a Whataburger Restaurant.
The Grab & Fly launch continues the trend Amazon began last summer of targeting more airport stores for Just Walk Out technology. The Hudson Nonstop store at Chicago Midway International Airport has the same process as Grab & Fly: customers check in with their credit card and are on their way after they grab their items.
In total, Just Walk Out technology is live in more than 50 Amazon stores and more than a dozen other businesses, from retail and hospitality to travel and stadium environments
