Zippin’s computer vision and multi-modal AI system in the new Ame Go store provides a fast shopping journey without the need for a checkout or any self-scanners
Brazil and San Francisco, December 1, 2021 - Americanas S.A. has opened a new Ame Go store in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The technology developed by Ame Digital, Americanas S.A fintech and mobile business platform, in partnership with Zippin, allows the new Ame Go to be the company's first autonomous store to operate in a high-flow environment. Using the “grab & go” concept, with no salespeople, no queue and no checkout, Ame Go will transform the consumer experience into a faster and more independent journey. The store is open at the Tom Jobim International Airport (“Galeão”), in Rio de Janeiro, which receives around 14 million passengers a year.
Based on artificial intelligence, computer vision, cameras and sensors, Ame Go is a store with technology that offers a completely autonomous, fast and secure shopping experience. In the customer journey, Ame Digital super app provides access to the store using a QR Code; cameras that work body biometrics recognition, sensors and scales identify when the consumer removes the products from the shelves. The space has its own Wi-Fi and the amount of purchases is charged at the client credit card on file in the super app, right after the customer leaves the store, with no checkout.
Located on the domestic boarding area, a strategic sector where passengers, non-passengers and more than 7,200 people from the airport community can be served, Ame Go store has 35 m2. The store will have a varied and seasonal mix of products from different categories, such as food, beverages, sweets, personal care items and even gift options.
Technology and new consumption habits
Over the last two years, Americanas S.A. has been testing, in more controlled environments, the “independent purchase” technology, through the payment method platform developed by Ame in partnership with the US-based startup, Zippin. Designed to offer customers a unique multi-channel experience, Ame Go is the result of studies carried out based on the lessons learned by Americanas S.A over 90 years in the Brazilian retail market – the company brings together more than 3,500 stores and franchises of different models in the country, in more than 800 cities.
“Today there are countless consumption profiles. And with a base of 50 million active customers we have at home a laboratory that allows us to develop, either with proprietary technology or partnerships with the best innovation centers in the world, different solutions for our customers. Ame Go is one of those solutions. From the closest contact with the customer, in different journeys, we study the data and understand the new behaviors to offer even more convenience and agility in the customer journey. Much more than a shopping center, Ame Go is an innovative and constantly improving experience, which reflects not only new behaviors, but also consumer trends and what's yet to come”, explains João Guerra, CTO of Americanas S.A. stores.
"We believe airports offer the perfect environment for checkout-free stores based on their high traffic, and the need to serve customers quickly and efficiently," says Krishna Motukuri, CEO and co-founder, Zippin. "We are proud to continue the expansion of our relationship with Americanas S.A., and delighted to see a high profile store opening in Rio's international airport just in time for the peak holiday travel season."
The technologies used to build Ame's super app and the store's structure, which has an intelligent layout and facilitates the flow of people, allow the customer to complete the shopping journey in seconds. "One of the goals of our innovation engine is to promote the use of new technologies in all platforms and this includes the stores of Americanas S.A.. Ame Go is the result of the combination of two of our unique assets, which are our constant innovation culture and our stores with extensive retail expertise, to provide an increasingly customized, fluid and surprising consumer experience”, highlights João Guerra.
About Americanas S.A.
Americanas S.A. is a Brazilian retailer born with the purpose of “bringing together the best in the world to improve people’s lives". We are a technological innovation platform capable of delivering an omnichannel consumer experience that is increasingly fluid and surprising, with infinite possibilities, which accelerates our growth and makes us more agile. We have a unified base of 50 million active customers; more than 37 thousand members; over 127 million items available; 3 million partners, including: suppliers, sellers and merchants; and 2.5 million m2 of total area among more than 3,500 physical stores and franchises; 25 distribution centers and 215 operational logistics units (hubs). With the union of our platforms, services and brands, it is safe to say that we are present in the daily lives of all Brazilian families.
About Zippin
Zippin has developed the next generation of checkout-free technology enabling retailers to quickly deploy frictionless shopping in their stores. Our patent-pending approach uses AI, machine learning and sensor fusion technology to create the best consumer experience: banishing checkout lines and self-scanners for good, and letting shoppers zip in and out with their purchases. Zippin’s technology is being used by retailers on four continents to power checkout-free experiences in their street-front retail stores as well as stores in a wide variety of venues such as stadiums, offices, airports & train stations, hotels, convention centers and residential buildings.
For more information, visit us at https://www.getzippin.com.
