Welcome to a brave new world of beverage alcohol retail sales where artificial intelligence frees employees to feed their minds with wine and spirits knowledge. Since Downtown Spirits in Seattle became the first liquor store to implement Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology about a year ago, sales have been skyrocketing for the Seattle retailer. “We’ve found from a user experience standpoint, those who love it absolutely love it,” says Downtown Spirits owner Marques Warren. “We live in one of the tech capitals of the United States, and our core customer is very comfortable using technology as part of the shopping experience. At the top of that list is the daily routine customer who comes in after work for a couple of tall boys or a six-pack.” 

Customers show ID to the attendant, enter Downtown Spirits, dip their credit card or tap the app at the retail entrance, get what they want, and walk out the store without waiting to checkout. “No doubt, tech natives have adapted the quickest,” Warren notes. “Any time you’re doing something new, there’s an acclimation period. That’s also exciting and led us to make improvements to our overall business in visible, customer-facing ways and behind the scenes.”

Computer vision involving high resolution cameras and image processing algorithms analyze customers’ movements and track items added to virtual shopping carts. “If I had to identify a challenge, it would be that despite being extremely accurate, those customers who experience the very few instances in which the technology is not accurate tend to be the most vocal,” Warren says. “We’ve put mechanisms in place to meet those customers where they are and make them feel heard and seen. The bottom line is, we’re expecting 50% growth year-over-year.”

When Downtown Spirits first implemented Just Walk Out, customers were required to download the store app to shop. “For younger and existing customers, it was a boon to our business,” Warren says. “Now, there were enough customers that didn’t respond quite as favorably, and we’ve since retracted the need for the app. But by and large, ease of the customer experience has been the most common theme in feedback we’ve received.”

Downtown Spirits aims to leverage all of the technology’s capabilities, including an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. “We transitioned to a robust ERP system to interface with Just Walk Out,” Warren says. “That presented challenges, but was overdue and forced us to modernize for the better.”

The technology allows Downtown Spirits employees to move away from performing rote tasks, such as working exclusively behind the register, to becoming knowledgeable beverage alcohol retailers. “It’s enabled us to further that approach with other initiatives, such as providing employees the opportunity to take Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) courses,” Warren says. “We’ve narrowed our company’s focus to our core competencies, allocating resources to training our talented staff to become well-rounded beverage professionals. Even if you’re very new to the industry, we’re able to accelerate training.”

While Downtown Spirits is the only liquor store nationwide so far to utilize Just Walk Out, numerous stadiums—including Lumen Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders—have implemented Just Walk Out and experienced increased sales. Lumen Field reported an 85% increase in transactions and a 112% increase in sales per game since introducing the technology in 2022. “Our store operators love the technology because it allows them to serve more customers than they could with a traditional store,” says Jon Jenkins, vice president of Just Walk Out technology at Amazon. 

Delaware North, a privately-owned hospitality and entertainment company, opened more than a dozen stores with Just Walk Out at stadiums nationwide. “These stores serve 20%-30% more customers than traditional concession stands, leading to more revenue and more satisfied fans,” Jenkins notes. “Market Express at ExCel London, touting 400 events and more than 4 million visitors a year, is now able to serve 300% more customers on their busiest days and increased annual revenue by 56%.”

Amazon, meanwhile, continues fine tuning its retail shopping technology applications. The retail giant is focusing on Amazon Dash Carts in its Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh grocery stores. Equipped with cameras and screens, the smart carts also allow shoppers to skip cashier lines. “Just Walk Out technology has proven to be a great fit in small-format stores where shoppers are on a mission-driven shopping trip, making quick purchases of relatively few items,” Jenkins says. “Our third-party customers choose to open stores operated by Just Walk Out technology for four main reasons: increased throughput, extended operating hours, optimized staffing, and reduced theft. We have strong conviction that Just Walk Out technology will be the future in stores with a curated selection, where customers can pop in, grab the items they need, and simply walk out.”

Look for frictionless checkout applications like Just Walk Out to expand at the off-premise in bustling high-tech cities. “As retail space continues to become more and more expensive, retailers will always look for ways to maximize every linear inch of possible shelf space as revenue-generating space,” Warren of Downtown Spirits says. “Just Walk Out enables stores to replace outdated point-of-sale systems with additional shelving or tasting bars to enhance the in-store experience. We went all-in and it’s benefited us greatly.”