Amazon Applies For Patent Free Retail Smart Retailing

Recently, a new patent for Amazon's application was discovered by the media. The content of the patent shows that Amazon is planning to operate a large number of retail stores that rely on intelligent equipment and completely cancel the traditional receipts. This will be a major revolution in the retail industry.

According to the patent content, in this intelligent retail store, customers can pick products at random and put them into shopping carts. In the course of shopping, consumers' identity and commodity information will be automatically identified and settled. Customers can complete the shopping directly, and can leave directly without any queuing.

This smart store will use a series of new technologies to scan and identify goods and shoppers, including camera identification and RFID infrared tag scanning system.

Amazon's patent was submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office in September last year, and the patent application document was published in January this year, according to Recode, the US sci-tech news website.

In addition, earlier, Amazon applied for a similar patent, which expanded the content of the patent, described the working principle of the intelligent system in detail, and submitted the application document again.

It needs to be pointed out that Amazon is opening entities.

Besides selling goods, there is another important purpose, which is to enable online shoppers to pick up goods at the physical stores, so some intelligent shopping techniques mentioned in the patent can also be used to pick up goods from online shoppers.

At present, Amazon is still trying to optimize the user experience for the main online shopping business.

For example, its annual payment of $99 Prime mail membership service, Amazon recently in New York, Baltimore, Dallas, Miami, and other American cities, the new two hours of fast delivery free service.

Amazon has tried to set up vending machines at some airports in the United States, and in some city convenience stores, Amazon has started deploying automated pick up counters, and online shoppers can pick up goods nearby.

In addition, Amazon is also developing UAV to achieve fast delivery in the air.

It should be pointed out that Amazon's patent application may not become a reality in the future. An important purpose of technology companies applying for patents is to intercept their competitors ahead of time as a means of market competition.

It is reported that some of the technologies mentioned in the patent documents can also be used in the existing distribution centers and large warehouses of Amazon, which greatly improve the operational efficiency.

Traditional supermarkets will give

A shopping ticket.

Amazon's patent documents show that after the customer pushes the shopping cart away from the store, the system will automatically send an electronic ticket to the user to inform the purchase of the goods and price information.

Amazon's automated retail store will collect a lot of privacy information from customers, how to enter a store, when to leave, and when to put a product into a shopping cart. Amazon will also have all the information about specific consumers and goods purchased.

It may raise concerns about how to ensure consumers' privacy and security.

The importance of a patent for Amazon can be interpreted from the identity of the patent inventor.

Among the three inventors of the patent, one is Steve Cossell (Steve Kessel), a veteran of Amazon and one of the most trusted advisers of Bezos.

His most significant contribution was to lead the team to develop a Kindle digital reader that is crucial to Amazon.

Many sources said Cossell is currently developing a secret project for Amazon.

Another inventor of the patent is Dilip Kumar (Dilip Kumar), who has worked in Amazon for 12 years. He served as Bezos's technology consultant for two years, which is one of the most important roles in Amazon.

The source said he was also working on the development of secret projects, but it is not known whether it is the same project as Cossell.

On the personal data page of LinkedIn, a white-collar social network, Kumar claims to be responsible for the technical work of a new Amazon project.

It should be noted that most people believe that Amazon has become an e-commerce giant, and there is no need to set up retail stores and supermarkets.

However, before the Wall Street journal and other media have reported that Amazon plans to test the water in the field of physical retail stores.

Amazon reportedly planned to open a retail store in the most bustling business district of Manhattan in New York in 2014, but the news never came true.

However, Amazon rented a building in Manhattan to serve as a small warehouse, serving mainly two day post mail members.