How Google and Amazon Are Innovating The In-Store Experience

Retailers have been through a tough year. With customers heading online to shop for even their most basic necessities, brick and mortar spaces struggled to get people back in stores. But, as safety restrictions are slowly being lifted, and customers feel comfortable heading to their favorite retailers, brands are now working to reinvent and innovate brick and mortar spaces to keep customers engaged during in-person shopping experiences.

Amazon and Google are implementing some of the first upgrades to brick-and-mortar storefronts since the pandemic began, marking their innovations as a potential guideline for companies looking to improve their retail experiences in 2021.

Here we unpack some modern details from Amazon’s latest Fresh location and Google’s first-ever physical storefront to see how they’re shaping the future of in-store retail experiences:

Amazon’s Cashierless Tech Can Scale

Amazon first introduced its Just Walk Out technology in its Amazon Go stores, allowing shoppers to enter a store, grab their desired items and leave. After entering with a credit card, the pressure-sensitive technology detects which products shoppers pick up or return to the shelves in a virtual cart — once they leave the store, they are charged for each item taken. Now, Amazon is taking this technology to its brand new Fresh location in Bellevue, Washington.

What’s most exciting about the newest location, for Amazon and its customers, is its 25,000 square feet size. The fourteenth Fresh location will be the first and largest full-size grocery store to offer cashier-less technology.

Standard Amazon Go stores are around 1,200 to 2,300 square feet, which previously prompted speculation about whether the technology could actually scale to a full-size grocery store. But this new location will ultimately test the theory, and act as a guideline for future cashier-less retail spaces.

Additionally, current Amazon Go stores primarily exist in metropolitan areas, framing the Just Walk Out technology as a convenience tool for fast-paced, city-dwelling customers. But, as Amazon continues to scale this technology, it may become more widely available for suburban shoppers. With the Just Walk Out technology being utilized in Fresh grocery stores, Amazon is making the technology accessible for a more routine shopping experience.

The expansion of cashier-less technology is incredibly exciting for shoppers seeking a contact-less experience. After a year of social distancing, customers have now become used to seamless, low-contact interactions, which makes the timing of this new Fresh store even better. And because Amazon currently sells the technology to outside retailers customers can expect more cashier-less experiences in the near future.

Google’s First Retail Store

On a different note, Google is opening its first immersive retail store on June 17th below its headquarters in Manhattan. The store will sell its Pixel Smartphones, Nest devices, Fitbit, and Pixelbook products.

In a blog post, Google notes that the space will be an extension of its commitment to New York City and give customers a hands-on experience with its devices and services. When constructing the new store, designers ultimately wanted to reflect Google’s mission of creating products that are helpful to people. With this, it developed an inviting space that allows customers to experience Google through its products in a unique and warm setting.

The space feels almost like an interactive museum or showroom; upon entering customers can peek inside a 17-foot-tall glass structure called the ‘Imagination Space’ with screens that rotate exhibits to show off products like its Google Translate service. Customers can experience real-time translation and learn about the back-end of its popular technology.

The retail store also has multiple ‘sandboxes’ that offer experiences around a specific product, like its Nest hub. In the Nest sandbox, customers can open the door for a delivery person after a simulated knock on the door.

On top of the experiential aspects, the store will also offer on-site repairs and a team of experts will be available for troubleshooting and device support.

The concept and layout of the new Google Store entirely juxtaposes the contactless Amazon experience, but together, they seem to indicate the future of retail experiences. In order to bring customers back in-stores, retailers must either wow customers with a unique and engaging design or support low-touch, seamless experiences. As we continue to see retailers innovate the in-store experience, we will definitely see more of both as brands attempt to differentiate in-store experiences from their more convenient eCommerce counterparts. While these two examples are on the opposite extremes, customers can hopefully look forward to more interesting and design-oriented shopping experiences and still benefit from effortless and contactless technologies, giving customers the ultimate choice in how they engage with their favorite retailers.